Green Remodel Forum

My house is cold even with the heat on. Any suggestions?

You have a leaky house. The first simplest and most economical way is to go to Home Depot to buy some weatherization materials and follow the instructions and do it yourself. This will help preventing cold air coming from outside through the gaps around the windows and doors. For better comfort, you may want to hire a home performance contractor to do a test to see where your house is leaking. Check around because their prices vary.

Yes, their prices VARY. I had a couple of guys come to my house did the test. They used the blower door to check the pressure of the house, and the infrared camera to find the cold spots behind the walls. It was pretty neat. They will send me the test report soon. I'll be back to share with you guys.

How about check all the pipes coming through the walls, such the faucets in the kitchen and bathrooms, the washer and dryer...The holes are so much bigger than the pipes. When fuel was cheap in the old days, no one care to seal those holes. Now, you can use some Great Stuff, insulation foam, to seal them all. It's very easy to seal them yourself.

Now I know why certain rooms are so cold because there are big holes around the pipes. I just went and find those big holes. I put some duct tapes around the pipes and the holes and hope they'll work.

Go to your attic or crawlspace to check and see if the ducts are leaking or disconnected. It's not uncommon that can happen.

Duct tapes won't last around ducts. It's easier to get a can of foam and spray to fill the holes. It cost only around $7 and it will last a lot longer than duct tapes.

Try put your hand where the floor and baseboard meet and see if you feel cold air coming in. Most likely you will. To fix the problem, remove the baseboard carefully and spray some foam (such as Great Stuff) along the gap. Make sure you don't spray too much foam to prevent you from replacing the baseboard.

I agree with Jimk's suggestion that you have a leaky house, you should follow the instruction that Jim has suggested and other members also shared nice reply or search about it from the web.

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