Our front door is a bit drafty.
More than a bit, really: during the recent windstorm, water was blowing in under the bottom seam.
And that’s after we (T) have fixed the threshold.
In the long run, the whole door needs replacing, as well as the frame. And we need a storm door. But in the short run, I hung a curtain.
Not just any curtain!
I bought two lengths of heavy upholstery fabric on clearance at JoAnn’s, and then a layer of batting (the stuff that goes in the middle of quilts). I sewed a giant tube, inserted the batting, and then sewed a border to hold the batting down.
Then I sewed up the top so that I could slide a curtain rod through it, and hung a swing-arm curtain rod (this) above the door, so we can swing the curtain away to get out the door.
The difference was immediately noticeable.
Next up: the back door!
Is your house drafty? Too warm in summer? Too cold in winter? How do you deal with it?
This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/466532.html. You can comment here or there.
Curtains, doorstops, bales of straw or bags of leaves against the outside walls (piles of wood, for you?), double curtains in winter.
Oooh, bales of straw. /ponders/ That’s a good idea. Must figure out where the coldest walls are. But against the outside of the back door would be good.
We buy in the fall and let them sit out all winter insulating and then they become lovely spring mulch.
Ooh, that’s very brilliant. we could use mulch. And I have a 1/2 acre of hay-like stuff…
Ohhh. Sounds like a job for a sharp cutting thing and Piles.
T. has a scythe!! ooh, how did medieval people bale.. this is cute but not what I wanted… Hrrm… http://www.ehow.com/how_8440812_put-up-hay-baling.html How to put up hay So, piles would really work, exp. if I didn’t mind if there was rottage at the bottom.
Rotting leads to delicious delicious compost!
Mm-hrrm! And we love delicious compost! (I need to build a second bin for rotation purposes.)
I suppose hay-racks wouldn’t be all that pretty around the front of the house, but back/sides…?
Back might be interesting! both sides are visible from the road, although I could probably mound straw over my flower gardens with no fuss. oh, look, a “hay rack” window box. http://www.zimbio.com/Window+Box/articles/AOU8wWjm_kY/Hay+Racks+Provide+Classic+Complement+Flowers
*considers* Box-frame for hay, with trays of plants on top? Like a raised flower bed, only instead of dirt underneath, hay?
That sounds lovely!!
I actually do similar – I have more trouble with everything being too hot in summer where I live, but blocking off unused rooms with heavy curtains really cuts down on what you have to cool. I use heavy curtains with white backs (facing outside) to reflect heat away on all of my windows and have the back part of the house (where the cats’ room and my craft-supplies-storage room are – neither of which are heavily used by humans) blocked off with a heavy curtain in the archway.
My grandmother hung a heavy curtain in winter at the bottom of the stairwell. I am planning on hanging one at the /top/ of the stairwell – it will also give the sometimes-a-guest-space some privacy.
Doorway curtains always. Individual oil filled heaters with small fans behind them in the winter just warming the important rooms. And I have a stand along air conditioner to use in the summer along with fans.
ooh, little heaters. Our wood-burning stove provides most of the heat for the house.
My new place has drafts. I’ve been working my way through sealing the windows for the winter with rope caulk and foam (one to go, which is still behind boxes not yet unpacked), and just added foam weatherstripping to the front (apartment) door today (though the door is more warped than I thought, so I may wind up removing some of it in the tightest spots to replace with thinner, and see if that lets the spots that are not so well sealed close properly). A sweep or a draft stopped for under the door is still in queue, as is doing something more permanent about the crack between the baseboards and the floorboards along the front wall. A curtain over the front door and curtains between rooms would probably be clever, too. Or thermal curtains in general, but I don’t really want to block out the light …
Yeah, I don’t like blocking light, but the curtains we have up aren’t in major light-sending-in spots.
My sister has used curtains in both rental houses and her yurt (very thick heavy curtains at the doorway of the yurt). They had a rental in which they could heat each half (kitchen/living and dining rooms versus bedrooms) separately. They put up a heavy curtain between, and then heated each half depending on which was in use. If you have a woodstove, look for a woodstove fan. They are awesome, my parents have one. No motor needed – the heat from the stove makes the blades turn and move hot air through your house!