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Winterizing the cottage

weatherstripping

Caulking and weatherstripping

 

In a year-round energy retrofit, upgrading windows – with double- or triple-glazing, and high-tech glass – is one common way to address heat loss. 

But the experts give draft-proofing, a much simpler, low-tech approach, top priority. It’s cheap and easy to caulk around windows, doors, and along the tops and bottoms of walls. Expanding foam fills awkward gaps at joist ends and along sills. Add weatherstripping to doors and windows and you’ve made a big first step to cold-proofing. 

Why bother? There’s no point in spending thousands for an energy-efficient heater if the cottage is leaking hot air. Nor is there reason to worry about how many Rs are in walls if most of the loss is around them.

 

- Charles Long

 

Photo: Eden Robbins

 

Winter 2007 coverAdapted from an article originally published in the Winter 2007 issue of Cottage Life magazine.

Copyright © 2007 by Cottage Life. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any article, photograph, or artwork, for other than personal use, in whole or in part, without the written permission of the publisher is strictly forbidden.