Weatherize Your Home

Caulk, strip and sheet

After finding air leaks and drafts in your home, you’ll want to plug them up and stop money from slowly draining out of your walls, windows and doors. The fixes can be costly and long-term, requiring professional assistance, or cheap and easy to do yourself.

Most say that adding caulking and weather stripping will pay for itself within one year through energy savings. Just make sure, before you seal leaks, that the air in the home is properly ventilated. Dust, carbon dioxide, mold and other contaminants can cause a big problem if they are allowed to build up in the home.

Plastic sheeting

If you can’t afford to replace old drafty windows, which is really the best thing to do, make a quick fix by installing plastic sheeting. Just because you still have single-pane windows doesn’t mean you can’t cut energy lost through them. Heavy-duty plastic sheets are clear and can be cut to almost any size. Simply apply tape along the edges of the window frame, stick the plastic down, and apply heat to make a tight seal. Then you just have to remember to close shades at night and all the time on north-facing windows.

Caulking

Caulking is relatively inexpensive and requires little expertise to use. Simply use it to cover cracks and holes around windows and door frames, baseboards or anywhere else there’s a problem. As long as a crack is no more than ¼ inch wide, caulking should fix the problem. Some caulking must be used in a gun, while other types don’t require one at all. The DOE website provides a list of common caulking compounds and what uses they are best for. Water-based is the best for cleanup and is more environmentally friendly all-round than solvent-based caulk. Look for one that doesn’t contain formaldehyde, like AFM Safecoat. It’s also flexible and water-resistant once cured, so it can be used for a variety of applications. In general, one tube of caulking is enough for 25 feet of product if applied ¼ inch wide.

Weather stripping

Metal, vinyl, rubber, foam or felt are all materials that can make up weather stripping. The type you use will depend on where it is going to be used, so it’s safe to say you’ll need several kinds:

  • Felt and open-cell foams - They are cheap and easy to install, which is why they can be a good choice in low-traffic areas. For other uses, however, they are easily visible, can be affected by weather and don’t do very well at blocking airflow.
  • Vinyl - It costs a bit more than felt, but resists moisture and generally lasts longer.
  • Metals - Stainless steel, aluminum, bronze and copper weather stripping can be affordable and last for a number of years. Older homes might do better with the look of metal as opposed to vinyl.