The Sport of Winterizing !

October 25, 2011

THE SPORT OF WINTERIZING
England is a draughty country. I’ve been there, lived there and that’s my recollection. So, it was natural to go to some U.K. websites to gather additional information about drafty houses, how to identify them, how to deal with them and how to live with them. Two websites in particular had good information, as well as great diagrams, so they’ve been included.

The information is relevant to the Canadian situation and necessary in order to identify the problem areas. The trouble is, how do you relay information about weatherproofing your home so that the average Canadian will pay attention, because this is important stuff about energy conservation, saving money and cozy living.

We decided to document our efforts to deal with the drafty house, and relay the information by way of a video featuring Canada’s sport. We hope this excites you to the bone so much so, that you want to run around doing just what we have done, winterize your home!

Weatherproofing and winterizing
When we got involved in this energy diet we were told to blog about ordinary things because those would be the experiences that most people could identify with. So, let’s be honest then, it's not an easy thing to get everything just right and in place in order to conserve enough energy to show a significant decrease in consumption. In particular it’s a lot of work to get ready for winter. First you winterize the yard so you don’t inadvertently trip over the garden hose in the spring, then you winterize the car because that first snowfall on icy roads is never pretty, then you winterize the house and the doghouse, and of course we prepare ourselves. The list goes on. In the North, it takes a month to prepare for six months of winter, then we prepare for spring and a short summer. It goes something like that.

So it was with a great deal of gratitude that we accepted some help from my brother and sister in law (Barry and Wendy) to get the windows prepared. They took a full day and although they never quite finished we got an incredible start. The thing is, they left satisfied and happy to have helped us out and contributed to the project, so the fact that the cat got at one of the big window plastics the very next day is a little secret that I am going to have to keep zip about. Maybe we can hide it with our winter curtains!

Now, there’s something else ordinary to write about. You see we couldn’t just go out and get a good insulated curtain in the Yukon. No, old wool blankets will have to suffice for now as everything is “on order." This is something we also experienced with purchasing a new refrigerator seal which is also “on order.” By the time some of these items arrive we will have finished the Challenge, but hopefully and thankfully we’ll have some lovely habits that will sustain us, and the curtains and seal will contribute to that.

Here are some of the other ordinary, and not quite so ordinary things that we did to take care of our energy needs through the toughest time of the year:
• Marika has a very cold room with three outside facing walls. She also has allergies to the cat so we had to set up her room in order to have some respite from our furry friends. Cork flooring promised to provide a warm and viable option to carpet. There is definitely a difference. The room is warmer on the feet!
• The thing that convinced us most to put up plastic window covering was discovering that 30 percent of heat can be lost through the window.
• We learned that cleaning the windows first is of critical importance. May we also suggest that newspaper is by far the best window cleaner, because it creates no lint.
• Fireplace flues draw large volumes of heat out of the house and there is such a thing as a commercial balloon that fills the cavity. But there are other practical ways to address this and we used insulation stuffed in a bag.
• That the furnace filter we hear so much about … requires changing because a dirty filter makes the system work harder and longer.
• That turning heat down overnight saves more heating energy because the drafty little places are just going to eat it up anyways. The colder it is at night the quicker it draws out the warm heat from your home.
• We learned that there are always new innovations in winterizing. For example one of the newer insulations we are trying features an R55 value in a single panel that is only ¼” think. Unbeatable!
• We learned that the innovative little trick that was used 20 years ago by Jim, the previous owner of the house, is actually a great idea for an older home. He put 6” of hard foam insulation cut to fit along the bottom, outside of the window. While we got out of the habit of using those foams, we now understand that it reduces condensation and ice build-up, and the air between the panes of glass warms up and keeps circulating. This saves energy.
• That you can adjust your living environment so you feel warm at cooler temperatures simply by having the sweaters ready and accessible for comfortable use.
• We learned that we might have to make some tough decisions around hot tub use while we investigate this further.
• That a candle or incense can provide a “free energy audit” on a breezy day by holding it up to suspect spots.

We can’t wait to hear what you’ve learned ...


For these Websites, go to the section on house “draughts”; different spelling same problem…
http://www.lowenergyhouse.com (diagram credit goes to this website)
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk