Great Green Idea: Green Furnishing: Make Sure Your House Is Draft Free

Make Sure Your House Is Draft Free

We've all felt it before-that chill that either suddenly cuts into a room or seeps in slowly and saps the heat. Drafts in your home are uncomfortable, and the more icy air makes its way inside the higher your energy bills will climb. And as your gas burns, carbon is released into the atmosphere, accelerating the already out-of-control advancement of global climate change.

There are simple ways to stop the heat from leaking out and keep the cold air outside where it belongs. First of all, you can assess the quality of the insulation in your home. Insulation will trap the thermal energy from the heating that you do use and prevent its escape. Make sure, especially, that your roof is well-insulated; warm air rises to the top of your house and insulation is your best chance to keep it from getting away.

Try to keep doors that lead to lower levels of your house closed whenever they are not in use. If you are going to use a space heater in a certain room, it will help to make sure that you keep all doors in that room closed. Avoid staying for long in rooms that are poorly insulated, and try to keep doors that access such areas closed as well.

But perhaps the most important advice to prevent or block out cold drafts is to plug up the actual leaks themselves in your home-that is, the areas along the edges of your windows and doors that aren't quite completely sealed to the elements outside. These small, usually invisible cracks are very common and found in most homes, even often in newly-built houses.

You can go to your local hardware store and purchase one of many kinds of window insulation film products, which are shrink-wrap plastic sheets that can be adhered to drafty windows with tape. These sheets are designed to keep cold drafts out and keep heat in, and they do what they're supposed to do very well. Sometimes, however, window sealing film isn't enough to fix a more serious problem; a window may need fresh caulking if there is a very bad draft from around the windowpane.

Make sure that you have door sweeps installed on all of your exterior doors and that all of these door sweeps are in good working condition. If you observe any light underneath or by the side of a door with a functional door sweep, you may have to either repair the door or replace its handle and locking mechanism.

To make sure that you haven't missed any areas where cold air might be getting in, walk around the house in front of every exterior wall and feel around each window and door with your hands, making a note each time you discover a problematic area. Develop a comprehensive strategy for keeping your house warm, and if possible execute your plans earlier than you will need them. A warm, insulated home by itself is worth the trouble, never mind the added bonuses of a lower heating bill and doing your part to help take care of our planet.