Re: Dodge the Draft!

But holes hidden in attics, basements, and crawlspaces are usually bigger problems.  

It is a fairly common building practice for a home to have a 6-square-foot hole in the attic where the chimney for the furnace/hot water heater penetrates the ceiling.  Ours did, and they just threw fiberglass insulation over it (worthless, as fiberglass does not stop air movement).  Sheet metal and an electric staple gun as well as some high-temperature sealant make quick work of covering up the hole, and building a stove pipe 'stand off' out of sheet metal to keep the insulation off the chimneys is pretty trivial.

Blown-in cellulose insulation is soooo much better than fiberglass batts -- it seals cracks and crevices to stop air movement, is made from recycled newspaper and is cheap (and non itchy!)  Our local big box hardware store rented us the blower for free (as long as we bought $100 worth of insulation from them) and they refunded the unused bales.  Did the whole thing in 2 or 3 hours with some help from my wife.

Crawling around a low-pitch roof with several cans of expanding foam to seal the attic was the hard part!

As a side benifit, the cellulouse made the house a lot quieter too -- acts as a big blanket for heat AND noise.

Commute Suck?  Twike it -- you'll like it!

www.uiuc.edu/goto/twike