How can I insulate the house without doing any damage to it?

Question

I am living in a rental house. The house is very old and I can feel the cold air coming in through the window sills. Our PG & E bill goes over $300 each month in winter. I can't afford paying that much and I can't replace the windows, since I am renting. I need to find a different way to keep my family warm through the winter. We tried the electric space heathers in each room. Now the PG & E bill goes still over $300 because of the space heathers. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Answer 1

Calk around the windows. Cover the windows, themselves, with ultra clear heatshrink plastic on the inside. Cover the windows on the outside with outdoor ultra clear plastic. Kits are made just for that purpose.

Replace any weatherstriping that is not working. Termporary calk all the cracks in every window. Zip is one name of a removable calk for that purpose. Insulation pads under every electrical switch and outlet plate.

Set the thermostat a couple of degrees cooler and wear heavier clothes. Put a rug or towels on floor right up against any outside doors to reduce draft.

The weatherstripping in most rental houses is shot, see if the landlord will pay you for the materials to replace any bad ones.

If you owned the place, you could afford to do other things. These are relatively cheap solutions that will help.

Keep hot air vent off in any room that you don't use. Hang blankets over any windows that you can do without it looking tacky. Keep drapes closed at night. Keep drapes closed all the time, if you can handle the lack of sunshine.

Answer 2

For windows specifically, thick curtains are your best bet. You can buy insulated curtains, or if you want to save money and aren't concerned with looks, just get some heavy wool blankets and hang over the window.

For doors, thick foam weatherstripping all around the sides and top and make sure the rubber weatherstripping on the bottom of the door closes the gap completely and replace if needed. You can lay a rolled up blanket in front of doors to the outside if the rubber weatherstripping doesn't quite do the job.

If you have rooms you don't use often, keep the air vents/baseboards turned down in those rooms and keep the doors closed, especially if they have lots of windows.

Depending on how long you plan to keep living there, you may be able to work out a deal with the owner to chip in a percentage or pay additional rent in exchange for replacing windows, adding insulation to the attic, and/or replacing an old furnace/boiler with a more newer, more energy efficient one. $50/month additional rent is a bargain if you are able to save $100/month in heating bills. This will benefit the owner even after you leave as it helps attract more prospective tenants.

Electric space heaters are generally quite an expensive way to heat versus gas. If you must use space heaters, make sure to keep them off in rooms you aren't currently using.

Answer 3

Call the utility company and tell them you cant afford the heating bills. speak to someone, and demand to speak to someone higher up and they should be able to reduce. The state helps on Heating bills during winter. good luck otherwise
Buy The Pink Insulating foam boards usually sold in Home Depot. Cut them to size of your windows and Cello Tape them inside and outside. Stuff or tape soft toys wherever you feel a draft. Use old clothings, unused comforters to close up windows all over the house. You dont need to see the outside. Newspapers or cardboards with cello tape works too.Dont use duct tape they stick to the wall and cant be removed. Nobody looks out the window in winter time. Buy heaters that have fan forced circulation and reduce the heater when sleeping as you are usually under the blanket. Your body dosent feel that coldness when you are sleeping. Leave bedroom doors open and use one heater for all the bedroom. Let the adults control the Temperature. If you leave it to the kids they will turn up the heat high and being lazy will takeoff the blankets and clothes because they are to get up in the night. Air always circulate. Its a 10 hour of wasted electricity. In the morning it just takes about 10 minits to warm up.

Answer 4

Storage heaters would be cheaper to run, as they store heat during the night when electricity is cheap and release heat during the day. If you can find some cheap new or second hand ones that still work, you might save money.

A lot of heat is lost through the windows, look into secondary glazing (plastic panels fitted inside existing windows) and foam insulation strips for the draughts. Make sure the room isn't completely sealed. You still need some ventilation.

Answer 5

do simple stuff like use draft excluders use them at the doors...
close doors....keep the heat in...wear extra layers of clothes... put an insulation jacket onto your water heater....also known as a boiler!! when family is in only one room turn off heaters in other rooms so that the heat is concentrated into one room!! dont know if any of these help but hey i tried!!!

Answer 6

weather stripping might help, or even caulking around the window. if not, try hanging heavy drapes or even blankets temporarily. and keep everyone bundled up so you don't have to keep the temp up quite so high.