Yesterday was the first official day of winter. And we had frost on the ground.
FROST!
Do you realize that frost in Georgia is like international panic? You can forget going to the grocery store…all the eggs, milk and bread will be gone. (which is totally weird unless you are planning on making a whole lotta french toast as you wait out the frost-storm). And the wait at the gas station is at least thirty minutes. Which is also strange because people are completely scared to death of driving if condensation gets cold here. Either that or they completely forget all drivers ed training and are scarier on the road than a lifesize photo of me without my maternity spanx.
Anyhoo. There was frost. And as I scurried from my car into the warm house, I thanked my lucky stars that we had taken a little time out of our busy weekend to begin weatherizing our home. What is weatherizing? Well, simply put, it is preparing your home for winter. or summer. and it’s done by sealing all the cracks (heehee) so that you can keep the cold air out (or in if it’s summertime).
The fine folks over at DAP sent us some indoor/outdoor sealant to give a try and I couldn’t wait to share with you the results of our weatherization project. It began with a little research. First we read up on how we can make our home more energy efficient by sealing up windows and doors. Then we decided to tackle the very closest door to our fireplace. We could actually feel a little draft from the area surrounding the door. And that’s really really really bad considering our gas fireplace is right next to it. Like my dad used to say ‘let’s not heat the entire neighborhood, ok?’.
Before our door trim had a pretty big gap next to the siding. But after we clipped the top of the sealant tube and loaded it into the gun, our gaps were squirt-filled and ready to keep our home sweet home a few degrees sweeter. After you fill the gaps, a quick swipe of the finger is all you need (middle finger is allowed in this situation since you are simply flippin off theives of your energy efficiency). It’s also pretty smart to have a rag on hand to wipe the excess.
The product that we used was the DAP Dynaflex which is actually safe for pregnant women like me to use in a well ventilated area. I even got in on the sealant wiping action and felt perfectly at ease knowing that it was low-VOC formula. Granted, I was a little bummed that I wasn’t strong enough to pull the trigger…but knowing that the end result is gonna keep the cold and little bugs out and that the dried sealant is PAINTABLE, well, that was enough to make me hand over the man-gun to my boyfriend in a jiffy.
Not that I didn’t want to pose with it and give one more futile tug on the trigger 🙂
So that’s how we did a little something in the right direction towards sealing up our home tighter than a lawyers lips. We are pleased as punch…or should I say cocoa because when we stepped inside our deck door – we could notice that we were no longer draftier than fantasy football. It was actually nice to be able to enjoy our fireplace. For the one second before we were off to see what else we could weatherize 🙂
Have you taken any steps toward getting your home more energy efficient? Maybe you were one of those smarty pants who took advantage of the window/door tax refund in the US this year? Or maybe you just bought those door cozies – you know the kind. It looks like Santa but with two long legs that do the splits in order for you to eliminate the draft. Poor guy. It must be so uncomfortable for him. I mean he has to be freezin his you-know-whats off. And yes, I know that it is basically a stuffed doll. But seeing as how I have a male baby growin inside of me, I can’t help but feel for the male plight. Wow. I am totally off subject. Let’s chat some more about weatherization. Be like Santa – JUST DO IT 🙂
I used another DAP product this year to fill in cracks in my foundation on the exterior of my home. Love their products!
I live in Atlanta as well and on Sunday I was at church and someone came in yelling, “It’s snowing!!!!!” and I looked and say maybe half of one flake. The New Englander in me cried a little bit …
I need to do this!!! I was just wondering last night if they even insulated my walls, it’s so cold in here. This house was not built for winters. I thought the frost was so pretty, it was like a small reminder of snow. I couldnt believe how warm it got in the middle of the day though. When I first moved here this fab guy in old navy with nicer hair than me told me that “georgia weather is bi-polar” So far he’s right.
And, “Let’s not heat the whole neighborhood” – LOL!!! This brought me back to my childhood. Wait till you hear yourself saying things like this to your kid. Just the other day I heard myself say to my 3 year old “get down from there or you’re going to fall and crack your head open!” And then I thought, “Who the heck says something like that!” My husband laughed and said his mom used to tell him the same thing. Maybe it’s a NY thing?
Sorry about the tangent, I did find this post really helpful. And ‘French toast’ – lol, good one!
We just moved into our 1st home and this is exactly what I was needing! The link helped BIG TIME! Thanks a ton
Also, personal recommendations (with comments following that agree) are a blog favorite of mine 🙂
We’re door cozie people. In fact, when we got our new double-sided one (oh, yeah. we do it up in style!) at Lowe’s . . . it was the LAST ONE LEFT! Otherwise, we installed one of those snazzy digital thermostats this year . . . extra insulation in our attic last year (yay tax refund!).
I’m jealous, though. I’d like to live in GA for like one winter. Because I can already tell we’re in the deep chill up here in the North. I’m surprised I can even type my fingers are so frozen.
Stay warm!
OMG I am totally jealous!! My hubby and I live in NORTHERN VERMONT where we’ve been living in sub-zero temps (not factoring in the wind chill). Our house is older than dirt (over 150 years old to be exact) and the insulation is nonexistent and all the windows are drafty- minus the ones we bought recently. We’ve been taking room by room to re-insulate the exterior walls and it is making a BIG difference. Our favorite thing for keeping our house warmer would have to be the cans of spray foam- perfect for filling cracks 😉 or gaps where some leaking may occur. Caulk would be my second favorite 😉
That product sounds great! It should help keep out the rain too. I bet if you remove the trim around your windows and doors you’ll find gaps of air that are causing a lot of your heat loss too.
We did a ton of winterizing last year (our first winter in the house). We re-insulated the attic from an R-10 to an R-48, replaced a patio door that was rotted open for a few years (yes years), and installed plastic on all 16 windows. Then we also kept it very cold in the house and used an oil space heater (very efficient) to heat just the room that we were in.
This year we replaced our HVAC system with a geothermal heat pump, installed new super insulated garage doors (our dining room is over our garage so affects our heating bills), re-insulating the wall between our house and the garage, and installed more window plastic.