It is cold most of the time, and no one wants to get into their house and find them cold as well. However, you might not have any other option especially due to poor insulation, and drafty windows and doors. What can you do though?
Due to a relatively poor financial muscle, most homeowners are not able to remodel their homes to make them warm, or cold when it is warm.
However, you can apply a cheap technique by fixing any air leaks to avoid losing warm air to the outside.
This technique is known as weatherstripping. It is the process by which you can make sure that your doors and windows are sealed tightly to prevent the escape of air from the house. It also prevents outdoor drafts from getting inside the house.
Weatherstripping helps reduce the energy consumption in your house through efficient cooling and heating. It also saves homeowners a lot of money.
You can use different materials for weatherstripping. Some of the most common ones include;
Door sweeps
Door sweeps consist of stainless steel or aluminium with some vinyl, felt, sponge, or plastic. They are fixed at the bottom of the exterior side for homes whose doors swing to the outside or the bottom of the interior side if your door swings to the inside.
Felt
Felt is a metal strip that is flexible and sold in rolls. It is usually tacked, glued, or stapled into place. It is used around a window or door. You can fit felt into door jambs to ensure that your door presses on them.
Tension Seal
This is made of vinyl folded into a V-shape. It can also be shaped into other forms to make a seal for cracks. It is used in the track of a sliding or double-hung window as well as the sides and top of a door.
Reinforced foam
It consists of cell foam that is attached to metal strips or wood and is used on the stops of windows and doors, on the door bottom, and at the top of windows.
Door Shoe
Door shoe consists of an aluminium face attached with vinyl that is inserted on doors to protect them. It can be used to close any gaps that might exist beneath a door.
Other common materials used include bulb threshold, fin seal, metal channels, reinforced silicone, vinyl, tubular rubber, and tape.
The materials you choose to use will depend on the kind of weatherstripping that you need for your home, as well as the design of the house. This will be dictated by the gaps you want to fill and your budget.
What to Do Before WeatherStripping
The first thing to do before you start weatherstripping and decide on the materials that you are going to use is to make sure that you know the windows and doors that leak air to the house.
You can do this on your own by moving close to the window or door frame to feel any cold air that might be blowing to the inside of the house. After that, you can now look for the right materials to start weatherstripping.
However, make sure that you have done enough research and understand the different types of weatherstripping and choose the one that meets your requirements.
Does Weatherstripping Save Money?
The honest answer to this question is yes, it does save money. In addition, it is relatively cheap compared to having to remodel your house to ensure that it is warm. Weatherstripping helps homeowners increase insulation in their homes.
By making sure that spaces and cracks around doors and windows are sealed, your heating systems do not have to be turned on all the time to make the house warm.
You can turn them on once in a while, something that reduces the cost of heating in your house as well as the cost of electricity.
In addition, weatherstripping ensures that the quality of air in your house is the best it can be. It does not only make your home warm when it is cold but can also make it cool especially during summer. This helps in reducing cooling costs.
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