Sunday Insulating Adventures

Well, we have made it through another week. It finally got cold here, so we have been running around trying to find some of the major leaks in the house. Not an easy task in a home built in 1867.

The house is covered in plugs from blow in insulation, however we discovered (after purchasing the house) that there are no stops in the walls, so basically most of the blown in stuff settled. I would have thought that would be a good thing for the first floor, but no. Not sure what they did, but the add-on turret is cold & apparently has no insulation in the walls. I discovered this while putting the Prince's socks away. I was blasted by a shot of cold air, I had to inspect. It was coming through a crack in the wainscoting. I am guessing our house was vinyl sided before you wrapped first, since it wasn't wrapped at all.

I am not sure of an immediate fix for this I guess we weigh the rip out the walls & insulate (DIY), trying to salvage the wainscoting. Or we could call for quotes on blow in foam. I am just afraid that stuff will ooze into the house & be everywhere.

Duct tape is a great tool! I used some around a window in the Prince's room, voila no drafts. Guess I need to do the other 2 windows. I really just wanted to caulk but all dh could find was the adhesive...

We also discovered that the heating duct in his room had separated from the vent, so that has increased the amount of heat actually getting to the room. We sealed that with duct tape, taped around the basement window right below the vent & wrapped it with insulation.

Then I noticed that the beams under the pocket doors were- um - weird. There was a breeze blowing up through the floor there, so now the beam is wrapped in insulation & I can stand in the doorway & not feel like I'm doing a Marilyn impression!!!

I guess the frugal tip here is that it is never too late in the season to winterize & sometimes it's easier to pin point the problems once it's cold. If it is something you absolutely can't do until spring - write it down! I know we were going to do a couple of things in the warm weather that we forgot about until it was 14 degrees!

Check out DIY Home Inspection for a list of items you can check & fix yourself. Made me wish I'd had some incence sticks when I was trying to feel for drafts.