Seal the Leaks

Keep the cold air out

Plunging temperatures and gusty winds create the perfect conditions to find—and seal—any places where cold air is getting into the house. In my home, we’ve taken care of the big issues that existed when we moved in: A cat door that let in so much cold air, a nearby fluorescent light stopped working in winter. Weather seal around the front door that was so thin, you could see daylight all the way around. (The previous owners must have spent a small fortune on utilities.)

But it turned out, that wasn’t enough. When I took my Climate Masters course, one of the presentations focused on home energy audits, which include assessing all the places where air is getting into or out of your home. I still remember the speaker saying the small leaks add up—sometimes to the equivalent of a football-sized hole in the wall. You would obviously fix something that large straight away, but with the little leaks, we tend to leave them be.

It’s worth the effort to seek them out. Finding and sealing the leaks can save you 10% to 20% on your heating and cooling each year.¹

Take care of big issues first

Definitely focus first on the bigger, more obvious spots. Can you feel cold air seeping in around a door or window? If so, it’s time to replace the weather stripping. Or maybe you have a window that gets frosty on the inside, which case there may be a gap between the window frame and wall. Pry off the wood trim, fill gaps with backer rod and caulking, and replace the trim. (We had to fix this in our house, too.)

Don’t forget to check gaps along the bottom of doors as well. We discovered that our back door had nothing between it and the floor, creating a gap 30 inches wide and 1/4 inch high. That’s 7.5 square inches—if you rounded it out, you could stick a tennis ball in that hole. We were able to buy a piece of weather stripping that slid onto the bottom of the door, completely sealing off that gap.

Be sure to think small

Next step is to seek out the smaller, harder-to-find leaks. These add up too. On a cold, windy day, focus on outlets and light switches located on outside walls. Do you feel air moving? (A wet hand will detect moving air better.) These are common places for air to get inside—and they are surprisingly easy to fix!

You can buy outlet and switch sealers. These pieces of insulation fit on the back side of the plate, reducing air flow through the plates and into the house. They’re super easy to install and highly effective. Save the piece that pops out where the outlet goes. If you find there’s still air coming in through the outlets (the actual holes where you plug something in), you can fit those pop-out pieces onto the back side of outlet plugs—the things you put into outlets when you’re baby-proofing—to stop those leaks completely.

Check out this Energy Saver page for more details on where to focus your search.

Good luck putting frigid weather to good use by keeping the cold air outside!

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1. Energy Saver. Do-it-yourself home energy assessments. https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/do-it-yourself-home-energy-assessments