If you want to improve the quality of your home, weatherization may be the right course for you.
Weatherization refers to the act of making your home more weatherproof, as in making it able to withstand wind, rain, and other natural forces better. While taking care of the pesky elements used to be the extent of the term’s use, now it is used to refer to making your home more airtight and energy efficient.
Many homes are built quickly and cheaply. Often the basics of weatherization have been overlooked when corners have been cut to save money so that the contractor has a significant margin. The effect of this is that many homes, budget or otherwise, suffer from poor efficiency.
Fortunately, it is not too difficult to fix many weatherization problems, and even a few basic fixes can increase your home’s value and decrease your energy bill.
Finding Problems
Most often, it’s best to hire a professional to find all the problem areas in a home. While you could likely find quite a few issues using one of the available check sheets, only a trained professional with professional equipment will be able to know for sure where a leak is coming from.
Fortunately, professional home energy auditors don’t always cost an arm and a leg. However, when it comes to weatherization, it’s important that the energy auditor hired is certified by the Building Performance Institute in order for an accurate and thorough audit to be done. Plus, when an honest and reliable professional assesses a home, the expense for the audit will most often be recouped in the savings of weatherizing the home.
An Easy Solution: Weatherstripping
Once you know where the problems are, you can go about fixing them. While major renovations are usually costly and best left to professionals, there are a few projects you can do yourself with little trouble.
Weatherstrips are one of the easiest and cheapest ways to make a home more airtight. [1] Once you know where the air is leaking from your home, it is fairly simple to fill it in with weatherstripping. Weatherstripping is filler material that is designed to consume the holes and spaces that are in doors and windows.
There are many different types of weatherstripping, but there are two that are most noteworthy. The simplest is adhesive-backed foam. Just as its name implies, adhesive-backed foam is a thin strip of foam that you can easily attach inside a door frame. It is simple and effective, though it decays rapidly over time. The other type is spring metal strips. This is a form of interlocking weatherstripping that is designed to be more permanent. It consists of two pieces of metal: one H-shaped and one L-shaped. The lower leg of the L slides into the “U” of the H, forming a seal.
Federal Help
The Federal government is willing to help low-income families interested in weatherproofing their home. The Weatherization Assistance Program, or WAP, aims to help those making less money permanently reduce their utility bills. The program is controlled at the state level, and more information is available for your location. [2]
Sources:
1. http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/insulation_airsealing/index.cfm/mytopic=11280
2. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/wip/project_map/
