Tips and Tricks for Weatherstripping Your Home

Are you tired of watching your energy bill skyrocket? Do you wonder why your air conditioner doesn’t seem to put out enough cool air? The problem may not be your air conditioner. It might actually be the windows and doors of your home. The good news is that weatherstripping can lower your energy costs and improve the performance of your air conditioner.

What Does Weatherstripping Your Home Mean?

Older homes can have a number of drafts that let out cold air in the summer and heat in the winter. These drafts make it almost impossible to keep a home at the desired temperature without spending a small fortune. These drafts usually occur around windows and doors, but can also occur around vents and other unprotected areas of your home. To weatherstrip your home means to address these areas by filling the gaps and keeping the cold or hot air inside your home.

Why Do It?

You wouldn’t leave your door wide open in the middle of summer would you? Then why allow air to seep from the cracks around windows and doors? It may not seem like a big deal, but all those areas add up. When your home is drafty, you will spend more money heating and cooling it. This is why you must address this issue.

How to Find the Leaks

In some areas, the electric company will come to your home and show you were the leaks are for free. In other areas you might pay a small fee or not have access to this service at all. If you do have access to this service, use it. Even if you have to pay a small fee, this is a much quicker method. The power company will work to seal your home and inject air into the home to see where there are leaks. This saves you a lot of time. If you don’t have access to this service, you can always feel around the doors and windows from the outside to determine if cold or hot air is leaking from these areas. If you can’t tell, have someone stand inside and run their hand along the window or door while you use a blow dryer to blow air at the area. If the air gets in, then there’s a draft.

Installing Weather Stripping

The best type of weatherstripping is foam wrapped. The foam wrapped weather stripping fits into most gaps with ease. Once you’ve got your materials, cut the weather stripping to fit the desired area and nail into place. You may need to file down or clip the weather stripping to ensure a tight fit. Complete this task around all the doors and windows in your home to get the best effect.

Weatherstripping is something that will take up one weekend, but it can save you tons of money from your heating and cooling bills. Best of all, it’s easier to do than you might think.