Winterizing 101

I have seem to be coming down with the flu or at least that is what all my medical friends are telling me I have. They reminded me that even though I have had the flu shot I can still get the flu it just won't be as bad...my take on that...THEY LIE. I have hurt so had that I have been in tears. It has hurt to brush my hair. My teeth, toenails and fingernails have hurt. So since I was unable to do anything due to the 102 fever this weekend I started checking of the to do list for winterizing the house. What follows is a blog post I started last week and intended to post it earlier but things just didn't work out as I planned them.

We face new challenges with this move one being we have never lived at this high of altitude. 3200 feet may not seem like a high altitude to you but when you are accustomed to less than 200 feet those extra 3000 feet take some getting used to. One of which is winter comes earlier. I am not used to winter until February but we are already running the heat and it is not even December. We are renting an older home and it is drafty so we have made some adjustments. Here are just a few things we have done.

- Wrapped the window a/c units – this helped cut down on the drafts coming in.

- Put strips across the bottom of the doors to help eliminate drafts.

- Covered the old windows with plastic. We put the plastic on the inside of the windows and used clear packing tape. Wasn’t sure how the plastic would hold up on the outside with the winds.

- Put Draft stopped down in front of the doors. These are just old blankets rolled up to help stop the draft.

We can already tell a difference with just this little bit done. We have hung curtains in the bedrooms but I am having trouble finding curtains for the living room and kitchen. I have a MASSIVE window  in the living room. It is something like 60x144 then there is another window in the living room it is not as big but finding curtains has been a challenge. I thought I had found some but they did not have enough panels for both windows and the salesperson didn’t know when they would get any more in. I am sure as soon as the curtains are up the heater will stop working so much.

Now for things still on the to do list…

- Caulk the windows on the outside. This will help seal them and cut down on drafts.

- Put faucets protectors on the outside faucets. I forgot to pick them up the other day when I got the a/c wraps.

- Winterize the dog house and pick up cedar shavings.  We have a large black lab and he loves outside but even though he has a fur coat on I still worry about him. He has never lived at this high of altitude either. So I need to winterize his house.

- Replace the weather stripping around the doors.

- Put the storm door back up.

- Caulk the bath tub and the window in the bathroom

- Put insulation on the light sockets.

What are some ways you winterize your house?