Winterizing

[EWolfe]

A few pointers from a carpenter:

 

1.Check your door strike plates at your exterior doors, if the door seal is loose, you can remove the plate with a phillips and bend the "tongue" with a pair of pliers. Just a little at a time until the seal is tight. (Note: may also require deadbolt adjustment)

 

2. Check the floor seals on exterior doors. If it is drafty, many have an adjustable threshold, look for large phillips slots (usually 4). If the door seal is not adjustable, tou can pop the doorpins, or remove hinges from the doorside, get a slide-on sweep for the door at a hardware store for about $5-$10. At the very least, keep a towel against the door.

 

3. If you have a drafty window, a roll of adhesive 3/8" foam tape can fix gaps quickly.

 

4. Close heater vents in unused rooms, and cover with a strip of carpet or mat to seal the vent.

 

5. Unused basement space can be a heat sump in winter. A few fitted sheets of closed-cell concrete insulation board on the other side of the door can lock the cold down. Make sure it is airtight, stuff gaps with roll insulation or use expanding foam.

 

I'll post others as I think of them. This can save you a fair bit of money in your power bill.

[Jens]

thanks for the tips. I just put in a new front door and seem to have a draft.

[catbirdseat]

I just put weatherstipping around the an access door to the attic space. I put foam behind all the cover plates on the outlets (on the exterior walls).

[Dru]

Don't you know you can turn off your heating cause it's Alpine Training! In which case, the draftier and colder your crib is, the better.

[Dechristo]

4. Close heater vents in unused rooms, and cover with a strip of carpet or mat to seal the vent.

Saran Wrap is quick and easy.

 

I just put in a new front door and seem to have a draft.

Thanks for mentioning this. I was wondering where the draft was coming from. You mentioned "front door" and I looked down to discover my fly was open.

[Ireneo_Funes]

#6: caulking around windows?

[robert]

#6: caulking around windows?

 

If you are going to caulk around your windows don't caulk the heads. There should be a piece of flashing there that needs to be left free to let water out of the wall.

[pale]

From one finish carpenter to another -

 

Often the little tongues on the strikeplates can be adjusted without removing them, just stick a screwdriver in that little tongue and force it out. The cheaper, paint grade doors usually have these strikes.

 

Buy a digital thermostat to regulate the heat in your house.

 

Wrap your hot water pipes in insulation - possibly the hot water tank too, if it's old

 

Good advice on the door sweeps, but additionally you should keep the threshold clean - nothing lets in a draft like a bit of ice holding up the door sweep.

 

Make sure your exhaust vents (dryer, bathroon) have functioning louvers on them outside, otherwise you get cold air blowing back in.

[whidbey]

Does any of this shit work with my bivy sack in winter?... as a former carpenter... stop being a cheap shit and get a new door, window or whatever and keep my former brothers in work......... enough said.

[spicoli11]

You could always poop in your sack to keep ya warm

[whidbey]

now that is just plain gross...spicoli!!!!!!!!!!

[JayB]

I've been in some houses where it looked like folks sealed their windows with a combination of Saran Wrap and duct-tape. Didn't seem like this would do much to increase the R-value to me, but who knows. Anyone done this? Did it seem to work?

[whidbey]

get out that north col bag and save save save.... otherwise.... yes. Anything you can do in winter to keep out the cold will help you save energy. This is a good thing in the long run i suppose.

[TREETOAD]

wear polartec 100 and turn thermistat down 5 degrees.