Are You Ready to Save Money this Month?

While weather stripping itself may not be the most glamorous of topics, the cash it can save you during the extreme temperatures of summer and winter sure can be!

The Department of Energy, temperature control of your home is the single largest bill most homeowners pay each month. This is why more and more homeowners are opting to take the weatherstripping challenge to lower their ac bills in summer and heating bills in winter.

Winston-Salem, NC weather-stripping-1Talk About Energy Costs

Energy Star states that the average home spends a little over $2,000 each year on energy use. Of that $2,000, about 13 percent goes to cooling and 29 percent to heating. That makes a total of 42 percent, or $840 you are likely spending to heat and cool your home.

Now let’s say you live in an older home, or a home that simply has older stripping material in place. Of that $840, an estimated 10 percent of that energy you are paying for is now sneaking out via cracks and crevices left by the degraded material. So you are losing $84 – more if your home does not have sealing in place or if it is especially worn out.

Some Easy Ways to Check for Air Leaks

There are some very easy ways you can check for the presence of these cash-draining energy leaks around your home.

  • Do a visual inspection of your weather stripping materials. Note any places where repairs or replacements are clearly needed.
  • Do a walk-through outside and then inside your home. Sometimes cracks or gaps are obvious enough that you can actually see them. You may want to carry a rough diagram of your home with you during your walk-through so you can mark where you saw the cracks.
  • Don’t forget about the less visible offenders. Some very common areas where air leaks in or out are less easily visible. These include around pipes and fixtures, electrical outlets and vents, hatches and dampers, phone and internet lines, baseboards and foundation seals and even mailboxes and dog doors.
  • Do the “rattle check.“ If doors or windows rattle when opened or closed, they are very likely also allowing air to leak out.

Once you have identified potential areas where air may be escaping, you are ready to begin the weatherstripping challenge.

Caulking and Stripping Materials are Your Wallet’s Friends

If your goal is to reduce your energy bills this year, then you will want to make friends with caulking and the different kinds of stripping materials!

There are a number of different types of materials you can use depending on which areas need sealing up inside or outside your home. These include metal, wood, foam, rubber, caulk, felt, tape, magnetic strips, vinyl strips, silicone and mylar. Some types are flexible and some are rigid to conform to needs in high-traffic and low-traffic areas of your home.

Costs and visibility, as well as ease of application, can vary quite a bit from one to the next, which is why it is always a good idea to have a professional contractor come out to do an evaluation and make an analysis of what is still in good enough shape to use, what needs repair or replacing and what types of materials to use where.

This will help you achieve your cost reduction goals while still spending the least possible amount of money on repairs or replacements. Retaining a professional contractor’s services will also ensure you don’t struggle to hide the presence of the weatherstripping, as some types of materials tend to be much more visible than others, and some will even impact other furnishings, such as carpeting, tile or curtains around windows.

How to Select a Contractor

The best way to select the right professional contractor to weather strip your home against drafts and air leaks is to know the right questions to ask during the preliminary interview.

Here is what you will need to know:

  • What is included in the quote? You want to be sure the quote includes selecting and delivering the materials, installing the materials and clean-up after the job is done.
  • How long will the job take? You want to know how many hours of labor you are paying for up front.
  • What permit(s) may be needed and what are the fees? If permits are needed to do the job, your contractor should know this and be able to obtain them for you or give you direction on how to obtain them.
  • Winston-Salem, NC weather-stripping-2What if additional issues are discovered during the project? You will want to know if the contractor can handle other general repair issues that may not become known until the project is underway.
  • What references can you provide? In addition to doing your own check to see what other customers have said, you want to know the contractor can provide references you can talk with.

By doing a preliminary energy audit to catalogue where the air may be leaking into or out of your home and inspecting any existing weather strip materials during this time, you can get a better sense of how extensive repairs or replacements may be.

And by knowing the right questions to ask before hiring a professional contractor, you can control the costs of taking the weather stripping challenge so you end up with a bottom line savings right from day one.

The best part about taking the time to leak-proof your home is not just the cost savings you will reap on energy bills, but also the knowledge that you are reducing your carbon footprint and conserving precious natural resources. It simply feels good to save money and help the planet at the same time!

Find out more info on this subject by calling Blaze Air serving the Winston-Salem, NC area. Just call (336) 788-3222 today.