how do I prepare my house for winter?

Question

I have a 1950s ranch, we are doing blown in insulation next week, ordering thermal drapes soon and will be caulking the outside of windows, would I be better off letting the dog out to go to the bathroom via the attached garage or thru the sliding glass door over the winter, both open into my kitchen. I have double pane windows, can I still put plastic up? What kind is the most efficient, we live in iowa by the way zone 5a can I use the spray foam in the basement where vent floes go out? do I need to put the silver tape on the seams of my furnace if so where do I NOT put it? should I put a cover on my water heater? it is from nov of 06, can you think of anything else I need to do? we will clean the gutters out for the last time once the leaves are all down

Answer 1

yes you would be better letting the dog out through the garage get him in the garage and close the door between the house and garage and then let him out of the garage this way you do not get such cold air in the house as both doors are not open at the same time. even though you have double pane windows yes you can still put plastic up. the heat shrink plastic seems to be the best as it creates a vacuum when it seals although i have never had much luck in getting it to shrink properly. you do not say what type of furnace you have if it is a forced hot air furnace with ducts running throughout the house you can use the silver tape on the those ducts to seal the seams. when you say vents floes go out if you mean where the vents to keep air circulating through your basement to keep the moisture down no you should not plug those up. it would not hurt to get one of those insulated water heater blankets to put on the hot water heater

Answer 2

Top two are adding more attic insulation and rechaulking around windows/weather sealing doors. Do you have a basement or crawl space. Insulating the sides of the crawl space would be nice, but not high on the list. Wall insulation is good idea especially since a 50's ranch is probably low on wall insulation. Don't forget attic ventilation! If you are adding insulation are you accidently covering the soffit vents? You may need to add the channels onto the underside of your roof that allow the air to get past the insulation. If you have gable vents, close these and go with ridge or can roof vents.

Thermal drapes is us to you as it adding plastic over the windows. I dislike the plastic ! For one, if done excessively, you can over seal your home creating a negative air problems.

Generally sounds like you are on the right track. If you want to read more check out http://www.masterhandyman.com/ and put in "winterizing" or something similar in the upper right hand search box.

Answer 3

ur good