Okay, so I have been scouring the flea market for items to winterize our home versus paying to have it insulated. This morning I was hanging valances on one of the windows and I felt cold air at my feet. When I reached down and felt the baseboard air was coming through it and the baseboard itself was cold. SMH. I have to eliminate this. As I was going about my day with the thought on my mind I was wondering if there is anything around that I could wrap the outside - just for the winter months - to block the cold? Any ideas, anyone?
Von, is your home over a basement, a slab, or on piers? People have used stuff like bales of hay or just about anything to block the cold and wind (plastic sheeting, plywood, etc.). That would be a big job for you to tackle. Would it help to place old blankets or towels along the baseboards inside?
The best way to seal baseboards is with caulk. You should seal around the windows, too, as well as where the ceiling and walls meet if there are cracks there. I've installed shrink film over the windows in old houses. But there is no "whole house wrap" that I know of. You might contact your electric company to see what advice and programs they may have. There are grants out there to help folks conserve energy.
Over a basement. I did put some tapestry fabric along the baseboard at that moment. I do have some plastic sheeting (industrial) and it's pretty heavy. My oldest son can help me with the project. I just need it on the back side of the house which isn't very wide or long.
The windows are done. Caulking is good. Winter certainly reveals a home's faults as does rain. I'll give AES a call or go to their website to see what they say there first.
Warm air rises so the temperature at the floor will be the coldest. Cold feet...warm head. I once was in a house which was heated by warm water flowing through piping beneath the floor. What a difference!
When I was growing up in north Idaho, we had very little (if any) insulation at our house. Here is what my folks did, although it might not work for you because you may not get the right kind of winter there, @Von Jones . We always had several feet of snow all winter, and my dad would go out with the snow shovels (with little me doing my best to help my Daddy), and he would bank the snow all up against the sides and bottom of the house, at least 2 feet high. Since it was under the eaves, the snow didn’t fall there much on its own, so whenever we had new snowfall, they banked up more snow, and it pretty well kept the underneath of the house from freezing, at least until it got way below zero outside. In the fall, my dad took strips of wood and heavy plastic and tacked it up on the outside of all of our windows. You could not really see anything out of the window after that, but it did let light in. I remember having the frost whorls on the inside of my bedroom windows all winter on the cold nights. When I lived in the trailer in Bonners Ferry, it did not have any skirting , or at least not much. I bought a ton of oat straw from the Mennonite’s and put the bales of straw all around the base of the trailer . (It was just a 12x60 singlewide). The straw lasted for several years, and by then , it was ready for the mulch pile; but it did a great job of insulating the bottom of the trailer house. I also piled snow up on top of that for even more insulation.
We kids had bedrooms in what was a (poorly) converted attic in the Frozen North. It wasn't too bad as it was ducted for heat, but when the icy wind blew.....whoo-hoo, it was cold up there. And there was ice on the inside of the windows. I slept in flannel gowns, wool socks, multiple blankets and quilts and, sometimes, a wool toboggan cap. In the mornings, we'd fling ourselves out of bed, grab our clothes and race downstairs to the kitchen to stand over the big floor register to get dressed under our gowns. Nobody was interested in exposing any bare flesh to the cold air.
Bubble wrap; 2 ways to use it. You can cut the bubble wrap to the size of the window. #1.Mist the window with water and then stick the bubble to the window. It stays put. #2. You can cover the whole window and frame using painters tape. Painters tape should help preventing pulling the paint or wall paper…or whatever off the wall when you remove it later on. The only bad thing is with method 1 is you have to wash your windows after you remove your bubble wrap and you can’t see out of the windows with either method. Bubble wrap is a great insulator though. You can also buy insulation pads for putting behind the light switches on the outside walls and the plug-in outlets. They come in a variety of shapes. Plus, those child safety things, which you can plug into the outlets that aren’t being used. You can really tell the difference how much air comes in around and threw the outlets verses having them insulated. You can usually buy these at most box stores and Wal-Mart too, I think. Then there is always weather strips and foam tape around doors and windows also.
@Von Jones contacting your utility would be the best start, or these guys link might be able to help. Sometimes after an energy audit, you can get help with winterization, although it might be a bit late for that this year. They may even help pay for the remediation. We had two audits here several years apart, and the biggest weakness was the crawlspace. I know you have a basement, but insulating the area between the foundation wall and the house structure can help a lot. Our house had a lot of insulation in the structure, as it was an all-electric house built in the 1970s, but we added insulation in the attic as well. As far as house wrap goes, you could get a roll of Tyvek at a building supply store, but it would be kinda ugly in your neighborhood I think. To REALLY seal you baseboards, you would have to remove them and caul the joint between the wall and the floor. I don't think that is a job you want to tackle. My vote would be to have your son look at the area between the foundation and the house structure--basically the sill and associated structure. He could foam that, stuff fiberglass insulation, or foam board the area. That should help get you through this winter. You can address audits and stuff when warmer weather arrives.
@Von Jones..try living in 106 year old house..lolol,, there are things that do help. ideas on here and various ways to cut the cold
Yeah, contacting AES right now is not the best time. It wouldn't be visible at the back of the house. Uh, yes I would tackle it but I wouldn't want to clean up the mess . My son is not the person for something like that he would tear, break, or rip just trying get my drift. I did check out the website. I remember when we bought this house we applied and was denied because we were over the income guideline. We would qualify for it now.
These past few days I have been inspecting cold spot areas in the house specifically around the window I mentioned. I still have one can left of Great Stuff so I decided this weekend I'm going to remove the bottom trim and fill the gap and that should help some. I also googled cardboard as insulation for the basement walls leading down the stairs. I usually keep boxes for craft projects with my grandbabies. It's not a large area so it should be a quick and easy project too.