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Went to the Marietta home show 3 Saturdays ago and a $9 window draft test changed my winter plan
I wandered into the Marietta home show at the convention center on a Saturday morning mostly just to kill a couple hours and grab free tote bags. One booth had a guy doing a live demo with a little handheld thermal camera pointed at a mock window frame, and you could see the cold air pouring in around the trim like blue smoke. He said he checked his own 1970s ranch off Sandy Plains Road and found 14 spots leaking, and sealing them cut his December gas bill from $210 to $138. I always figured new windows were the only fix, but he showed me the cheap fix first, which is just foam gaskets behind the outlet covers on outside walls plus a $9 tube of paintable caulk around the interior trim. I went home that afternoon and pulled off three outlet plates on the north side of my place and you could literally feel the cold air coming through. Ended up spending about $30 total at the Ace on Roswell Road and my hallway already feels less drafty. Has anyone else here tried the thermal camera trick, and did you bother renting one or just pay somebody to check the whole place?
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blair6265d ago
Man, the outlet gasket thing is no joke. I did that at my last house and pulled out a wad of fiberglass batting that was stuffed behind the plates, which was doing nothing but holding cold air right against the wall. The other spot people miss is the bottom of the exterior doors, so run your hand along the sill on a cold morning and you will feel it. You can rent a thermal cam from the Home Depot on 41 for like $40 a day if you want to hunt down the rest of the leaks yourself instead of paying someone.
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