Any Home "Tightening" Projects Done in Prep for Winter?

The wife and I have installed four new screen doors on our house in prep for winter. The old screen doors might as well not have been there at all if stopping air infiltration was their intended goal. The new screen doors have tightened up the house appreciably.

Thinking of the windows for next year.

New Larson storm door on the North end of the house. Very airtight, hoping for less drafts in January.

Trying for the low-hanging fruit, had an energy audit (no cost to us, paid for by one of those obscure line items on utility bill) a month or so back...highly recommend it if you are at all curious. Still waiting for the results discussion meeting though...

Pointing fieldstone basement walls, spray foaming air leaks in attic, to be followed by some new wiring and more blown-in insulation. !$@#^ spray foam (GreatStuff) and the cans it comes in, if you come within five feet of the stuff you get covered and if you don't use the can up right away it hardens in the valve...at least it does work real well for its intended purpose! Maybe also do 'poor-man's spray foam' of the sill in the basement (extruded foam--blueboard--cut to size and held in by GreatStuff).

lsayre--Windows--don't know what you've got or what your plans might be but, don't necessarily fall for the vinyl guys hook line and sinker. Old wood ones with proper weather-stripping and storms are just as good, and are repairable...GOOD vinyl windows are nice but CHEAPER ones are LOUSY, the thermo seal between panes fails quickly, they're hard to operate ('sticky'), and they don't stop noise too well. And it is possible to negate any infiltration gains with air leaks around frames of replacement windows...we had loads of drafts here (previous owner had replacement vinyl windows put in) until I went round the house with a couple tubes of caulking. Question of $$$ (wood wins esp if you DIY) vs PITA (good vinyl wins) vs aesthetics (wood wins, hands-down).

I've lived with both, prefer wood, but sure understand the time needed to bring em up to par. Strictly comparing vinyl vs wood, double-hung or single-hung. No experience with clad wood, fibreglass or aluminum (other than some real cheapie aluminum sliders in a rental in New Zealand--talk about condensation!!! but at least they wouldn't rot...)

Great advice on the windows. Thanks!

I have so many holes, I don't know where to start. So, I just leave them ... just like the past 10 winters here.

Rob R. wrote:New Larson storm door on the North end of the house. Very airtight, hoping for less drafts in January.

Three of ours were Larson's also. One was a Chamber Door.

I also created a spot for make-up air to enter the basement. 4" piece of PVC that drops to about 12" from the floor. The basement is always warmer than needed anyway, so it makes sense to bring the make up air into a place that no one will notice.

I replaced the bedroom windows, the old windows were signal pane aluminum frame and most of the weather striping was gone the new ones are jen weld double pane signal hung vinyl frame. A tip for the great stuff take the straw off before it sets up and squirt some brake parts cleaner in the straw and also down in the valve and you can reuse it

I have to replace my door weatherstripping every 4 or 5 years. Even though the cats have "cat knockers" they end up clawing the weatherstrip to rags. Grrrr. Hmmmm.... maybe cat fur would make good weatherstrip. Hmmmm <joking!> Geeepers

We have one bay window in the dining room. The center double pane window is about 3 feet by 4 feet. It lost it's seal after 12 or 13 years & now it's done it again after only 6 or 7. I don't know if it's worth doing again.... we can still see through it, most of the time. Grrrr It's about $200.... maybe I'll spent $75 on a plate glass. How much extra coal can it use a year?

this thread gives me some ambition to do the things I should... I will make one of those attic door insulation boxes my audit said to do

I have one of those over the pull-down attic stairs...makes a huge difference.

12 windows replaced early spring this year, Im banking on seeing at least a small change from the old 1960's anderson wooden window units. We replaced our dineing room twin window to nice bay setup that looks out into the wood behind the house. Nice little touch but let me mention this about bay windows, that one bay which took up a twin window cost as much as all the other windows.

All my windows are junk. The previous owners should've left the 150 year old windows in place.

I've got the modern vinyl wonders - all junk. They SUCK! When you look inside from outside, it looks like someone took a hot shower in every room. Can't see clearly out of any of them because all the gas leaked out, and years of condensation have created a film. None of them open without using 2 hands and swearing, and they all leak air like you wouldn't believe. I bet if I could just do windows, it would be a huge improvement ... but they'll just be replaced with more junk that blocks the heat of the sun .. and costs a fortune. Can't win.

Does anyone make old-school windows anymore? My guess is probably not - they're probably illegal now ...

I see this often smitty... you would simply opt for re-sealing every window in the house before buying new vinyl windows (it would require no work other than popping each upper and lower sash and bringing them to a local window shop to have them do it at a cost of about $20 each), while they are all out you can take some time to lube and repair any springs or rods in the sides.

A lot of time when homeowners do this themselves that do not insulate around the jambs at all (which will make anything you put their suck), or they insulate in this area with expanding foam (which sucks almost as bad because it inevitably makes a crapper vinyl window operate poorly).

Ideally one would have a vinyl exterior/wood interior windows because by virtue of the supporting structures needed to build a window like this dictates its a premium quality window (and they do indeed make such animals)...but they are very costly

Good tip there D - I might have to look into that. Now, if I could find the stuff on the net & do it myself, that would be even better!