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Posted on April 15, 2016 by

Weather Stripping Challenge to Lower Your AC Bills

How You Know If You Need Weather Stripping

If you’ve never thought about your heating or cooling bills until they come in the mail and they seem to be extremely high, then it’s time for you to think about another thing. Weather stripping comes in all types of shapes, sizes, lengths, textures, and material, and they can be very helpful in the war against drafts as well as battling against high heating or cooling costs.

If you’ve never thought about getting weather strips before, then you may wonder how you’ll know if you need to get it installed in your home. Here are a few things to look for to determine if you’ll need stripping installed in your windows, doors, or other spaces in the home:

Manchester, NH weather-stripping-1Your Heating/Cooling Costs are too High

  • You still feel cool/warm air coming through window or door
  • Bugs are able to crawl through spaces in the window or door
  • Room quickly gets cold/warm when the HVAC unit is turned off
  • The temperature in one room is significantly different than another

How Stripping Will Improve Your Home

Weather strips can greatly improve your heating and cooling costs as well as the look of your home, especially if you get decorative stripping that is made from a material that upgrades the look of the home as opposed to simply keeping out drafts. Here is a breakdown of exactly how stripping can improve your home altogether.

Heating/Cooling Costs

You have high heating or cooling bills whenever you turn on the HVAC unit, and it’s likely because there are spaces in the home that are allowing air to escape, making it necessary for you to run the HVAC unit longer than normal. Your cooling and heating costs can go down dramatically if you add weather strips to the home, especially if it’s put in places where the air is escaping, such as at the sides of a door, on the side of a window, and over cracks and spaces.

Drafts Through Windows Or Doors

As homes get older, it can start to fall apart, and you may see cracks or spaces develop next to a window, a door, a sliding door, or even in the wall. Any space that allows you to see the outside and is not a window or a door is a problem, and a lot of air is going to escape through that space. Drafts should only come into a room if a window or door is open, but if you feel breeze or air coming through the side of a window, especially if the window is closed, then you know you have a draft that needs stripping to seal it up.

Doors can be a big problem as well because of the fact that the bottom of doors will typically have a space that can allow a lot of air to escape, so a door sweep will be needed to help keep the draft out. With the different types of stripping that can be used, it’s easy to keep these drafts from cooling your home when you want it warm or heating up your home when you wanted cool.

Bugs Come Through Cracks/Spaces

It’s bad enough that drafts will come through cracks, holes, spaces and more, but bugs can also come through it as well. Ants, silverfish, roaches, spiders and more can all find their way through the spaces in a window or a door. Without filling these spaces up, you may not only need weather strips for the home but also pest control as well. Adding stripping to doors and windows that have spaces that allow bugs to come in can easily eliminate the need for pest control as well as helping you to prevent extra cooling or heating costs.

Room Cools Or Heats Up After HVAC Is Turned Off

If you have one room in particular that doesn’t heat up or cool down very well, then it’s likely that the room has drafts coming in, so adding weather strips to the window or door in that particular room may help to keep it warm or cool as necessary. Also, consider a door sweep for that room if you know for a fact that a lot of the air is going underneath the door.

Once stripping is added to the room, then it’s likely that the room will be able to stay at a stable temperature that doesn’t require you to constantly turn the heat or A/C on to make the room feel comfortable.

Manchester, NH weather-stripping-2Room Temperature Differences

It’s not unusual to feel different temperatures in different rooms, but if certain rooms have higher or lower temperatures that are drastically different than other rooms, then you can bet that it’s because stripping is needed in that room.

Drafts can easily allow cool air to come into a room when you’re trying to heat it up, and warm air can go into a room that you’re cooling down with the AC. Until those spaces are sealed, then expect to continue to have room temperature differences that are drastic enough to warrant adding weather strips.

It’s Time For You To Get Weather Strips

Don’t wait any longer if you’ve already been experiencing higher than normal heating or cooling costs. With the warm weather coming up, it’s best to get weather strips in place right away, especially since they will help you to save substantially on cooling costs.

Your best bet is to consult with an HVAC specialist who fixes or maintains your HVAC unit to determine where there may be spaces or cracks that have to be taken care of with stripping or caulk to seal up the space tightly, so nothing is able to come through, especially cold or warm air from outside. Once weather strips are in place and door sweeps are in place, then you’ll easily be able to enjoy the temperature of your home again.

For weather stripping consultations, contact Skovron Mechanical Services LLC. in the Manchester, NH area , call (603) 922-4037.