ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 16, 1996 TAG: 9606170005
SECTION: HOMES PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Hints for Homeowners
SOURCE: STEVE ELDER
If you live in a house built within the past five years by a reputable builder using modern energy-saving construction techniques (such as sealing framing joints, installing continuous vapor barriers and sealing around window and door frames before trimming), skip this article and go right to the comics.
However, if you live in one of those beautiful old frame Victorians, which tend to have the air tightness of your basic chain link fence, or in almost any older home, here's some help on how to slow that wind roaring through your house and carrying away your energy dollars.
Numerous ways to tighten your home can be found in practically any energy guide put out by a utility company, government agency, or consumer magazine. They include the well-known strategies of: improving the weather-stripping around exterior doors, sealing the gaps around basement exterior door frames with foam insulation (check those steel frame basement windows, too), replacing exterior door thresholds that no longer seal properly, installing ready-made insulation strips under outlet and switch covers on exterior walls, making sure that the window and door trim on exterior walls is properly caulked, and simply lowering the glass section of your triple-track storm windows.
Additional methods, not quite so well known, include: gluing a batt of insulation on the top side of your attic access hatch and installing foam weather-stripping around its edges, sealing around any exhaust fan or recessed lighting fixtures in the upper-story ceiling, insulating the crack between the sole plate and the top of the foundation with foam insulation, and caulking the gaps between the floor and the baseboard or shoe molding along exterior walls.
Caulking is especially important near radiators, as the weight of the radiator usually causes the floor joist underneath to deflect, opening gaps as wide as a quarter of an inch. (If the floor and molding are stained rather than painted, use a clear silicon that will not show.) If you have old double-hung windows with no storms, you can also put rope caulk at the joint where the upper and lower sash meet and at the window sill. Rope caulk will remove easily in the spring when you're ready to open the window again.
Controlling the air pressure in your home can also be very important. In usual winter conditions the basement and first floor have a slight negative pressure compared to the outdoors. This causes cold outside air to migrate into the house through the numerous cracks and gaps mentioned above. The influx of cold air is increased by bathroom exhaust fans, range hood fans ducted to the outside, gas or oil furnaces, gas water heaters and clothes dryers. These appliances all pull air out of the house, causing you to spend extra energy dollars heating the cold air drawn in as a replacement.
You can lower your overall energy costs and make your home more comfortable by controlling the sources from which this make-up air is drawn. If your laundry room has a window, open it just a crack when the dryer is running, so that the make-up air will not be drawn in from the rest of the house. (Note: if you have an electric dryer, you can get a diverter for the exhaust hose that sends the warm dryer exhaust through a lint filter and back into the house. Diverters are not recommended for gas dryers, because of unbreatheable carbon dioxide emissions.)
Similarly, by running a pipe from your basement window to the front of your furnace and your gas water heater, you can supply them with combustion air directly from the outside rather than using the air inside your home that you've already paid to heat. This combustion air supply pipe is now a standard feature on newer energy-efficient furnaces.
After you've scorched dinner and need to run the range hood exhaust fan for an extended time, open the kitchen window a bit. Your appliances should throw off enough heat to compensate temporarily for the cold air coming in, and the influx of cold air from elsewhere in the house will be reduced. Finally, if you have a fire going in your fireplace, crack a window in the same room to provide make-up combustion air and help the fireplace draw better.
These strategies can reduce the air infiltration into your home by 50 percent to 70 percent and can be effected for a materials cost of under $50. The time to act is now, when working conditions are much more favorable than in the dead of winter or in the heat of high summer, both for you and the materials you're using. If you have a drafty home, your energy dollar will be noticeably stretched. (Please note that we did not discuss replacement windows as a way to tighten up your home, because we were talking about cheap improvements.)
Next time: Indoor air pollution (What to do about a house that is too tight).
LENGTH: Medium: 85 linesby CNB