Energy Audits And Fixes – A year round effort for several years

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Why would you say that and won’t comments like that scare people away?  The answer is two fold. The less obvious answer is that the more you tighten your house the more leaks you find. A perfect example in my house is the west wall in the kitchen. As we have tighten the house I have noticed infiltration both in touching the wall plates and on the back of my hand near the wall mounted cabinets. I never noticed that before because we had many other places to tighten up.

But second is the nature of the seasons. Again our wall is a perfect example. It is 20 degrees outside and there is half a foot of snow on the ground. If you waited until it was real hot or cold to do the initial survey using the incense and the chant “I can save money” to purify your house, then it is probably not a good idea to go outside and caulk the crevices I asked you to leave unsealed. You will have to wait for the spring or the fall. Anyway today we look at other “crack stuffers” than caulk. That is the dreaded weather stripping.

http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/repair/how-to-apply-weatherstripping.htm

How to Install Weatherstripping

Inside this Article

  1. How to Install Weatherstripping
  2. Types of Weatherstripping
  3. How to Install Weatherstripping
  1. Installing Spring-metal and Other Weatherstripping Types
  2. Tubular and Foam-Filled Gasket Weatherstripping
  3. How to Install Weatherstripping Onto Sliding Windows and Doors
  4. See more »
    1. Applying Spring-metal Strips
    2. Applying pressure-sensitive Foam
    3. See all Home Repairs articles
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­­Rising energy costs can make a cold, drafty house a misery that grows increasingly expensive. Sealing your home with tight-fitting weatherstripping can make you feel warm all winter long. You’ll also enjoy the lower utility bills.If you had a 6-inch-square hole in the middle of your front door, you would certainly do something in order to plug it up. Yet there are thousands of homes in which a 1/8-inch-wide crack exists all the way around the door, and this gap is just about the equivalent air loss of that 6-inch-square hole. Letting these cracks exist is like throwing dollars out the door or window. Fortunately, weatherstripping can reduce your heating/cooling bills by as much as 30 percent while reducing drafts that can cause discomfort.

Your home may or may not need weatherstripping. Luckily, there are some very simple ways to find out. If you can feel cold air coming in around doors and windows on a windy day, you know the answer. If you are uncertain, you can create your own windstorm at the precise spot where you suspect air might be leaking. Go outside with a handheld hair dryer and have a helper inside move his or her hands around the door and/or window frame as you move the hair dryer.

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­ You may discover that all your doors and windows are airtight. Or you may find a door or window that is airtight around three edges but needs help along the fourth edge. What you will probably conclude, however, is that your home has several drafty areas that would benefit from weatherstripping.

In this article, we’ll show you how to install weatherstripping on all parts of your house. We’ll also examine the various types of weatherstripping, which is our first order of business.

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Tomorrow we talk more about windows.

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