Tips on getting your home ready for winter .Things you may need, Heavy plastic or Plastic Window Kits Packing tape Utility Knife Caulk and Caulk Gun Hammer and nails Staple gun and staples Draft Stoppers For doors Insulation For Hot Water Tank Duct tape Safety Covers for outlets Sweeper Air in a Can Weather Stripping for doors Spray Foam Insulation Before we know it old man winter will but upon us again and with the cost of everything going up we all want to save any way we can.
Even thought it may seem expensive to get all the tings you need to winter proof your home it will save you more than you ever spend in the long run . I live in a old farm of minors house in West Virginia that was built well over a 100 years ago . Yes some things have been up dated but it is not the most insulated house in the world . I have used these trick at every home I have ever lived in and will be using some of them I am sure at the new house I am buying even though it has 400 rolls of insulation in it . The first thing to do is go through your house room by room and take inventory of what you will need to do . This way you can get everything in one trip and you also wont buy things you may not need . Next clean your furnace (and replace the filters on your furnace )or heating stove . You may be able to do this yourself with your sweeper and air in a can . Removing the dirt make it more fuel efficient and less of a fire hazzard . If you are not sure about doing it yourself call in an expert . Just be sure to read the owners manual before you start and see what it recommends if you do decide to do it yourself .
Next check your windows inside and out . If the caulking is cracking or pieces are missing take a utility knife cut off the old clean your windows and replace it with new . I caulk around the frame also on the out side too. If you have windows that you know are drafty plastic them . Get a window kit from any store . Measure the window and cut the plastic to fit and staple to your window . Just be sure to leave a little extra plastic to tape with the packing tape on the inside or duct tape on the outside for a better seal also use drapes made of a heavier material in the winter than in the summer. Now check your outlets and base boards . They can let a lot of cold air leak in , If you can feel a draft around the outlets edge use a little caulking to block it . If it is comes from the outlet its self use a child safety plug cover to help block it . Same with the base boards if you feel air coming out of the top use a thin strip of the caulking up the base board on the edge by the wall . Check your doors if the weather stripping is old , missing or not flush with the door replace it . This is a piece of cake . Pull off the old scrape and scrape with a putty knife to get all the sticky off . Measure where you took off the old and cut the new to fit .
Cut , peel ,stick and you are done. One I cut mine to fit I roll it back up with the sticky side out and peel off just a small piece to start and roll and peel as I go down the door for easy handling . If you have a draft coming in the bottom of the door get a draft stopper to put in front of the door on the inside of the house . Look under your sinks a lot of times the holes cut out for the pipes are bigger than the pipes and they let a lot of cold air in . If you have space around the pipes and you feel a draft get a can of spray foam insulation and spay the hole . Or you can stuff the hole with regular insulation . Do the same with the holes for your washer and dryer hoses . Wrap your hot water tank in one of the insulation blankets they have at like lows or Wal mart . Just wrap it around the tank and secure with duct tape .If it is on the outside of your house like in some trailers put a piece of insulation inside of the door and make sure the door has a good seal .
To check take a piece of paper and slide in the crack if it slides in air will come through . This is also a good trick for the doors and windows in the house . We also plastic our porch that we use the most and that the wind blows the hardest on . Not only dose this cut down on the mess of snow on the porch it helps keep out the cold . All you need is a roll of plastic you can get it at Wal mart, Lowes, or your local hard ware store, a few strips of wood to help hold it on a hammer and nails. Cut the plastic to fit sections of your porch from the eve to the floor and nail up using the wood strips to hold it. Other things you may need to do are go under the house check to see if the pipes need insulated to prevent water freeze ups and check the pipe holes coming into the house to see if they need insulation in them also. Even if you only use one or two of these tips, it will help you stay snug as a bug in a rug all winter long.
