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HOME WEATHERIZING
WEATHERIZING YOUR HOME MONEY SAVING TIPS
Weatherizing your home is essential to help control heating and cooling costs. Whether you are heating or cooling, you do not want your energy “going out the door.” Any savings generated from employing the tips in the “Heating & Cooling” Section will quickly dissipate if your home is not properly weatherized. Follow the tips below to maximize your heating and cooling savings.
1. Conduct an energy audit to determine where your home needs weatherizing. Before
you can effectively weatherize your home, you need to determine just where energy
losses are occurring. You can conduct this audit yourself, use an independent energy
auditor or many utility companies will conduct free or low-
a. Check insulation levels in your attic, exterior and basement walls, ceilings, floors and crawl spaces. Make sure the insulation is in place and not missing.
b. Check for holes and cracks in your walls and ceilings, around and in your windows and doors, around your light and plumbing fixtures and electrical boxes, and around your attic hatches and dryer vents where you might have air leaks. An easy way to do this is to hold a lit incense stick next to these areas to see if the smoke stream moves horizontally. If so, you probably have an air leak.
c. Inspect heating and air conditioning ductwork for air leaks. Leaky ducts can often account for up to 30% or more of your total heating and cooling costs. If the heated or cooled air does not make it into the living areas it’s wasted.
2. Fix leaks in heating/AC ductwork. First, repair sections that should obviously be joined but have separated. Next repair obvious holes and unsealed joints in the ducts, such as where ducts attach to vents. Finally, turn your system on and look for air leaks throughout the duct system by feeling for escaping air.
a. When choosing a tape for duct repair, avoid common duct tape. It really does not work well. Look for a mastic, butyl tape, foil tape or other approved tapes.
b. Make sure all duct insulation is in place and repair all rips. If the ducts
are not insulated, consider insulating them. Also, be sure a well-
c. If you are adding new construction, consider placing the ductwork in conditioned spaces to achieve greater efficiencies.
d. Consider getting a professional contractor to assist with duct repairs. Ducts
that do not work properly can potentially cause carbon monoxide problems, if you
have a gas, fuel-
3. Install adequate insulation and replace missing insulation to keep the heat and cooling you generate in the house, and the outside temperatures outside.
a. Since heat rises, proper insulation in the attic is a must for controlling heating
bills, although attic insulation will also aid in reducing air conditioning costs.
Check to see if you have the recommended amount of insulation for your area. A
minimum of R-
b. Adding insulation under your floors that are exposed to either crawl spaces or
basements can save in both heating and air conditioning costs. R-
c. Once a house is built, correcting wall insulation is difficult and expensive. However, if your wall insulation is deficient, consider having a foam or other type of insulation suitable to retrofit wall insulation installed.
d. To help with cooling costs in warm climates, a foil reflective insulation can be installed underneath the exposed roof framing to reduce heat buildup in the attic and reduce the temperature of the attic.
e. If your furnace uses hot water and radiators to heat your home, insulate the pipes to the radiators to prevent the hot water from cooling off in the pipes.
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