Home owner woes
Dec. 15th, 2003 07:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
inulroMoving right along to The Stupid.
I've been wondering why it's so much colder downstairs this year than previous winters. We're well acquainted with the fact that our front door provides all the weatherproofing of a wet tissue, but, well, it's worse than it was. Eventually I worked out that it's due to one of my half-finished DIY jobs. You all may remember that I ripped up the carpet in the front hallway at Easter and never finished the floor. There's one hell of a draft coming through there. Oh well, at least I figured that out *before* I had the floor finished, as was my original plan. That's not going to help with draft proofing. So it's out to buy laminate flooring very soon. Paying off my loan early is going to have to wait another month or so - I have the money and I'm not going to sit here freezing for the rest of the winter. This also means I have to go to Ikea, as I haven't seen as dark a colour laminate flooring anywhere else. This stuff is Not Cheap, but I don't want wussy light coloured wood - wouldn't go with the Johnny the Homicidal Maniac walls anyway. I do not, however, have enough spare cash lying around to do anything about the front door.
Plus, Jason has a week + off work over the Christmas period. I need to keep him occupied somehow while I'm stuck at work.
But oh, it gets better. It's also been bloody cold in the area between the kitchen & the bathroom downstairs. On Wednesday I was collecting the vacuum (which we keep in that area) and discovered rays of sunlight coming through teeeny tiny cracks in the *back* door. Even if I had money for doors, I'm not paying for a new back door - I think we've opened it twice in the whole time we've lived here. If we want to go out back we use the patio doors. So it's off to B&Q to look for options for filling these cracks (which really are small, and you can't see them unless the sun's coming in at the right angle). If the solution turns out to be Gaffa tape, there will be photographs.
I'm decidedly unimpressed that our Convergence plans may be scuppered by falling down house syndrome. Though it could be worse. The boss is moving to Australia in just under 2 weeks, and has to move out of his house so the renters can move in at the end of the week, and his roof sprung an enormous leak in the storm on Saturday.
I've been wondering why it's so much colder downstairs this year than previous winters. We're well acquainted with the fact that our front door provides all the weatherproofing of a wet tissue, but, well, it's worse than it was. Eventually I worked out that it's due to one of my half-finished DIY jobs. You all may remember that I ripped up the carpet in the front hallway at Easter and never finished the floor. There's one hell of a draft coming through there. Oh well, at least I figured that out *before* I had the floor finished, as was my original plan. That's not going to help with draft proofing. So it's out to buy laminate flooring very soon. Paying off my loan early is going to have to wait another month or so - I have the money and I'm not going to sit here freezing for the rest of the winter. This also means I have to go to Ikea, as I haven't seen as dark a colour laminate flooring anywhere else. This stuff is Not Cheap, but I don't want wussy light coloured wood - wouldn't go with the Johnny the Homicidal Maniac walls anyway. I do not, however, have enough spare cash lying around to do anything about the front door.
Plus, Jason has a week + off work over the Christmas period. I need to keep him occupied somehow while I'm stuck at work.
But oh, it gets better. It's also been bloody cold in the area between the kitchen & the bathroom downstairs. On Wednesday I was collecting the vacuum (which we keep in that area) and discovered rays of sunlight coming through teeeny tiny cracks in the *back* door. Even if I had money for doors, I'm not paying for a new back door - I think we've opened it twice in the whole time we've lived here. If we want to go out back we use the patio doors. So it's off to B&Q to look for options for filling these cracks (which really are small, and you can't see them unless the sun's coming in at the right angle). If the solution turns out to be Gaffa tape, there will be photographs.
I'm decidedly unimpressed that our Convergence plans may be scuppered by falling down house syndrome. Though it could be worse. The boss is moving to Australia in just under 2 weeks, and has to move out of his house so the renters can move in at the end of the week, and his roof sprung an enormous leak in the storm on Saturday.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-15 12:55 pm (UTC)http://www.gesealants.com/sealants/diy/portfolio/silicones/silicone2.shtml
for sealing the cracks in the doors.
If you want to minimise heat loss for cheap I strongly recommend sheets of plastic (the kind that come in long rolls in hardware stoors) stapled into place and then edged with gaffer tape around the windows.
Hang the plastic sheets like curtains over doors - staple them to the wall just below the ceiling, make them extend about 20 - 30cm from the door and loop a small weight at the bottom (we've used lathe from tearing down our internal walls) - then hang a blanket over the sheet and then another sheet of plastic over the blanket.
Costs bugger all (1000' x 10' costs about Cdn$20) and works really well.
We're getting new doors & wondows in January, but til then we've got close to fuck all between us and Winter.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-15 01:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-15 02:04 pm (UTC)The best solution would probably be wood filler - I'd recommend the two-part "high performance" stuff that comes in a tin rather than the pre-mixed "plastic wood" stuff. The wood filler route does require a fair bit of sanding down and repainting in order to do a decent job.
Of course, if the cracks are really fine, you might be able to get away with just repainting!
If the door isn't a tight fit against the bead and is letting in a draught around the edges, a roll of self-adhesive draught excluder might help and is very cheap (about £2-3 for a 10m roll). If the door has glass panels, taping a sheet of thick plastic (e.g. rubble sack) over them to create an air gap would also help.