Getting your old house ready for Winter

With winter already approaching soon, many will be wanting to make their old house warmer, more comfortable and to lower bills. Sometimes work done to accomplish this actually can make things worse or waste money, so here are a few tips when working on old houses.
Many people’s knee-jerk reaction to an old house is to replace the original wood windows, but this is usually wasted money. Only 7-10% of heat is lost through windows, and while it sounds like a lot, it’s nothing compared to the 35% lost through the attic, 25% lost through walls, and 15% lost through floors. Windows are actually at the bottom of the list in terms of heat savings, and you will never recover the cost of replacement in fuel savings.
With the average cost of vinyl replacement windows for a home nearing $15,000-$20,000+, you would only save about $210 per year on heating, meaning it would take 70 YEARS to break even. Vinyl windows also only last 15-20 years before needing replaced, so again the cost is never recouped.
To properly insulate old wood windows, you can add foam or plastic air sealing strips to tops and sides of a sash. Spring bronze weatherstripping is also a great air sealer along the sides. Adding a storm window on the outside, or even the inside, will also give you equivalent R-value to a new vinyl double glazed window.
Keeping your original wood windows also keeps the look of your house historically correct on the inside where the sash may match your woodwork, and from the outside where the proportions are kept. Air sealing old windows can be done by any homeowner, and storm windows can be purchased for a fraction of the cost of replacement windows.
Let’s get to the big-ticket items though, roofs and walls. Attics should be first if you’re looking to keep a house warmer and reduce bills, remember it is the biggest area of heat loss, up to 35% or more. Homes should have 12 inches or more of blown-in insulation in the attic and be properly vented at the eaves and ridge.
Even if your attic was insulated years ago, as it settles and compresses you lose R-value. Most homes can have attic insulation blown in for less than $5,000 so it is a worthwhile investment.
Many homes built before the 1930s have little to no insulation in the walls or attics. To insulate walls the best option is again blown-in. An insulation company will come out and drill holes at the top of your exterior wall, blow in insulation to the cavity between studs, then fill and cover the holes like they were never there.
For attics and walls in old homes, avoid expanding foam and spray foams. They hold too much moisture and can cause rot in old homes not designed for it. Stick to blown-in cellulose or fiberglass.
If your home is on a crawlspace, insulating the floor above the crawlspace with just basic fiberglass insulation can save you up to 15% and can be done yourself. Insulating the rim joist around your house in your basement or crawl space is also another overlooked area where heat is lost.
If you’re unsure what your home may need, there are services out there that do home energy audits. They cost around a hundred dollars, but they inspect your home’s insulation, use thermal cameras to look through walls, and make a plan for you to get the most bang for your buck.
They may recommend installing insulation foam behind outlets and switches, taping and sealing HVAC ducts, sealing around exterior vents, or a multitude of other things. They may also recommend replacing an old furnace. High efficiency 98% furnaces with AC run around $15,000, and along with air sealing and insulation can drop your winter gas bill by as much as one-third.
Heat pumps are also becoming increasingly common, and can be used to supplement heat as well as AC, though they do increase your electric bill. In Michigan right now it is cheaper to heat with gas than electricity, so if your home uses electric baseboards or electric supplemental heat, it may be more efficient and cheaper to switch to gas. In summary, if you know your house has poor insulation, start there first. Money spent on insulation is money well spent. Get a home energy audit if you can to find your homes’ weak spots, which will then give you a plan to move forward.