I think we're trying to save on heating bills backwards

I've been thinking about this lately:

When the heating bill gets too high, most people immediately think about the heating system.

Turn the thermostat down.

Buy a more efficient heater.

Upgrade the furnace.

Replace the windows.

Add more insulation.

And some of those things absolutely make sense.

But I'm starting to wonder if we're looking at the problem from the wrong end.

**Before trying to produce more heat, shouldn't we first figure out why we're losing the heat we already paid for?**

An old house can have a surprising number of little leaks.

Around doors.

Around windows.

Around pipes.

Around attic hatches.

Through poorly sealed penetrations.

Places you don't really notice until you start thinking about the house as a system.

And individually, none of them seem important.

But put enough of them together and you're basically paying to heat the outdoors.

What interests me is that some of the fixes don't have to be expensive or permanent.

Weatherstripping.

Caulk.

Simple draft blocking.

Insulating an attic hatch.

Even temporary window insulation during the coldest part of the year.

That last one especially caught my attention.

Instead of replacing an old window, you can make a removable insulated covering and put it up when you actually need it.

It's not pretty.

It's not high-tech.

But I'm much more interested in something that costs $20–$50 and can actually improve comfort than something that costs thousands and takes years to pay for itself.

So I'm curious what people here have actually experienced.

**If you had $100 and one weekend to make an older house hold heat better, what would you tackle first?**

Not looking for generic "turn the thermostat down" advice.

I'm interested in the weird little things that actually made a difference.

Did sealing one particular area make a noticeable difference?

Did attic insulation help?

Did window coverings help?

Did you discover a draft you didn't even realize was there?

And if you've done several projects, which one gave you the biggest improvement for the least money?

I'd especially like to hear from people living in older houses or cabins.

Hey Lana, welcome to Permies!

Curtains and drapes can make a tremendous difference, especially in a poorly insulated house. My parents' house is old, and although they've done a lot to improve the insulation, there's still more to be done. The door between the entrance and the kitchen is quite drafty, which leads to the kitchen sometimes getting quite cold in the winter. A cotton bedcover hung as a drape in front of the door really helps surprisingly much. I imagine the difference would be even bigger if it was a heavy wool cloth. Likewise, heavy curtains in front of the windows can help keep the heat in during the night, or in winter cold snaps, and a drafty floor can be instantly improved by means of rugs.

I think one could do a lot in the curtains and drapes department without spending any money at all, by repurposing any unused cloth one has already. Plus, with some imagination it could make the house cosier than it was.

Lana Reyes wrote:**If you had $100 and one weekend to make an older house hold heat better, what would you tackle first?**

Ooooh, this sounds fun!

First I'm going to assume that if you only have one weekend, then you aren't there already. Which means it's likely that there's some time to think and prepare before you get there. Also, that you've seen the place and have some ideas where the worst problems are going to be.

If I went back in time and did the same for the house I'm in now, this is what I'd do...

Make a couple of draught-excluder sausages to go along the bottom of the doors - there's a half inch gap under each of them. The work gets done in advance and just a couple of seconds to install. Possibly the best and fastest fix in my opinion.

Try to source a load of the blue-foam insulation sheets that people are pulling out of their roofs to replace with thicker, better ones. Our attic is gradually filling up with other people's discarded insulation. I've also very recently converted some of a new batch that arrived a few days ago into window-screens for the west window to block out the evening sun, but it would work just as well to keep heat in too. They are very quick to make - basically all that's needed are offcuts of insulation sheet, a tape measure and a knife.

Stock up on tools and supplies for filling in anywhere that air can get in or out. Our roof was a joke - all the woodwork was bent and you could see daylight between the tiles, but filling up the biggest ones and laying as much insulation as we could until we could change the roof helped tremendously.

The main door here is made of a sheet of metal and seemed designed to act as a giant heat exchanger. Blue insulation was a quick fix for that too. But you need some way to stick it in place so stock up on something suitable.

That stick-on mirrored window film helps keep heat in (or out) pretty well, and means that light still gets in. It's just a few minutes per window to install, assuming the window is vaguely clean so the film will stick.

That lot might keep us busy for a whole weekend. In this place we worked (are still working...) gradually. Changing the roof for a new insulated one with no leaks helped amazingly. Double glazing helped. The one huge thing that revolutionised our winters here though was the rocket mass heater. So much more heat for the same amount of wood, plus the mass holds the heat that would normally escape up the chimney and holds it in the mass instead, where it gradually escapes into the house to keep the temperature nice and steady all night and all the next day until we light it again. That's not a project for a weekend though!