HOW TO TEMPORARILY AND CHEAPLY WEATHERPROOF YOUR HOME

Are you a tenant that has just moved into a home that has gaping holes under the door and drafty windows? Have you told your landlord about the problem and they haven’t come out to weatherproof the home, or have they told you that you’re responsible to do it yourself?If so, you could be getting caught by some of the freezing cold Arctic blasts that travel through our area of Texas from time to time.Weatherproofing the home can take time and resources that you may not have before the next cold front. Particularly if you end up needing to replace windows or need to replace the weatherstripping on your door thresholds.So then you’re left with just a couple of choices, either suffer in a cold, drafty house or do something about it until you can get the proper weatherproofing done.For your windows, there isn’t a lot you can do if they are old with single paned glass. A lot of rental properties have these older windows and unfortunately for most the painters tend to paint them shut.Either way, they usually have poor seals between the framing and wall as well as between the glass and window trimming. Some won’t even shut all the way, leaving a breezeway for air.So the best thing you can do is either use some old towels or an old quilt or comforter and cover the window completely with it from the inside. But before you put your thrifty covering over the window, you’ll want to add a little insulation.Plastic grocery bags are another item that most people have sitting around unused in the home. Little do people know how great they can be at becoming insulation. To use them in this manner for this thrifty trick, you just separate them all and just grab a hand-full of them and wad them up.Place the wadded up bunch inside another grocery bag, leaving the outer bag full of air and true to shape. Make up anywhere from fifteen to twenty of these for one window.Get little pieces of tape and tape up the bags to the window, just place the bags loosely until they cover the window from top to bottom and then let the blanket or comforter lay down over the whole thing. The idea is not to tape the bags down firmly, but just along an edge or corners, allowing them to keep air pockets in all the inside bags.Either nail or thumbtack the top of your quilt, blanket, comforter, or bath towel to the top of the window framing. Let it hang down over the whole window.Fold under any part of the cover that hangs below the window, folding it toward the window and away from you. Fold loosely so you can also scrunch it into the corners, situating it atop the window sill (the bottom of the framing).This should effectively give you some insulation over the old windows. It’s not something that should take a long time, or something that has to be done precisely, it’s just something to temporarily help you out while you’re dealing with some unexpected cold weather.The best thing you can use for under the doorway is a folded over towel. They are thick and when loosely folded longwise, are the perfect size for the width of the doorway. Just loosely fold them a few times and press it into the gaps under the door, just slightly. You should immediately feel a difference in the air draft.Once you’ve done a few things to keep the cold air from blowing into your home whenever it wants, you should notice quite a difference in your heater’s ability to keep the space warm. If your heater is indeed not working correctly, you’ll need someone you can call.At Texas Air Doctors, you can get emergency heating repairs at any time. We don’t want anyone suffering in the cold. Just call our specialists at the number below if your heater breaks down or isn’t producing warm air.