Seal Up the House for Winter

By Sam Thompson

Old Man Winter is on the way!  With home heating costs threatening to reach an all time high this season, it's time to think about keeping the heat in and the cold out.

There are lots of ways to prepare your home for winter, but no matter how much you insulate, you will always have a problem if you don't take care of the cracks.

You can install the best insulated windows on the market, but they have to be caulked securely, inside and out, or they won't be any better than your old ones. Any crack or open space around a window or door is a place where cold air can blow in and heat can escape.

If your home has wooden or laminate siding, any cracks where the siding laps should be caulked. Areas outside of the living quarters are more important than gable and attic areas. Attics need to breathe if they are insulated, that's why lots of your older homes are built with attic vents. If the attic isn't insulated, then it has to be sealed up in winter to aid in minimizing heat loss.

Heat rises to the top of your home and cold tends to linger in the lower places. One of the most common places for cold air to come in is around the baseboards. If there is a crack between the wall and the baseboard, then there is a place for cold air to enter.

One thing to watch for in older homes is floor subsidence. The floors tend to sag away from the bottom of the baseboard, sometimes leaving a sizable gap between the baseboard and floor.  This gap may be hidden by a carpet, and is a great place for cold air to blow in.

It's very important to choose the right caulking for the intended job. Caulking with a silicone base is not paintable or stainable. The silicone will not allow paint or stain to adhere to it. Never use silicone if there is a possibility of future painting or staining in those areas.

Paintable and unpaintable caulking is available in different color options, along with clear. Major home improvement stores usually have the best color selection. One thing to note with the clear paintable caulking is that it comes out of the tube white, but turns perfectly clear/transparent when it is completely dry.

Stained or varnished tongue and groove or wainscoting. Interior walls that have stained and varnished trim have usually never been caulked. The baseboards and window areas should all be caulked with the paintable/stainable clear caulking.

Although most of the cold air is suspected to enter around exterior walls, lots of cold air enters the home around baseboards of interior walls.  The cold air channels through the floor joists and is able to enter the home anywhere from underneath.

While you are sealing up those air leaking areas in exterior and interior walls, you may as well go the distance and install insulating pads behind your electric receptacles and switch plates. In some buildings, large amounts of cold air come in through these areas.

The receptacle and switch plate insulators can be found either in the electric department, or the home insulation department, at all major home improvement stores.

Before you go the store, get down on your hands and knees and look under your entry doors. If you can see daylight under them, then cold air will be blowing through that opening.

Door sweeps are inexpensive and easy to install. The color selection is limited to either white or aluminum, except in the larger retail outlets. Mount the hard edge just a hair above the bottom of the door and let the rubber sweep the floor when the door is opened. This will insure that the opening is sealed. There are usually four or five small self taping screws with the package. The holes can be started with an ice pick or awl.

Weather stripping for doors and windows is also available. Lots of older homes and apartments have the need of some extra help in these areas. The weather striping that was installed on the older doors and windows wears out or deteriorates with age. There are a variety of different sizes and shapes of weather striping available for these applications in major retail outlets.

One thing to remember when you are sealing up for winter, you are also sealing up for summer. Keeping the heat in during the winter also keeps the cool in during the summer. Another plus for your efforts is the protection against insects crawling in.  A lot of insects can squeeze through a crack that the air can blow through.

Click here to purchase weatherstripping and home sealing supplies.

© 2006 DoItYourself.com