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When cold winter winds blow  through our houses, many homeowners react to the chill by deciding to replace their windows and doors, Worse yet, many remodeling professionals might even suggest that to their customers. 

The vast majority of windows and doors in North Texas homes need caulking and weather stripping. They rarely need replacing. 

Remodelers and green builders refer to this as tightening up the house. Many say that If you have high heating bills, you have a leaky house. Often heating problems in a North Texas home are a matter of caulk.

Heating bills are lowered by some kind of sealant in your home. It is not a matter of more insulation or replacing windows or doors. It is a matter of sealing your home. Declare war on heat loss by wielding a caulking gun.

Windows and doors are actually holes in the wall. Even in a wall with an R-value of R-20, the windows and the doors are the weak spots. The very best new window probably has an R-value of R-4, so windows provide a small level of protection from cold or heat.

This means weather stripping and caulking are the best answers to high heating bills. If this is properly done, it will make an old window or door 90% as air tight as a brand new one for a small fraction of the cost.  Caulking has a very quick pay-back period.

Can you do it yourself? 

Yes, if you have the time and patience. You can also hire a professional to do it for you at a very reasonable fee.

Coker suggests that everyone concerned with high heating bills start with a blower-door or door-rater test. Then caulk and weather strip. Heating bills will go down dramatically when you finish and a tight house will also lower air-conditioning bills"

How often should you do this?

Best advice is that everyone check the caulking and weather stripping each year and replace these utility-bill savers at least every five years, more often if necessary.

Air-Conditioning? This also helps lower summer utility bills, of course.

Remodeling an Existing home To Be Green and Energy-Efficient
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