energy conservation Archives - Page 2 of 4

31 Days of Handy Home Fixes, energy conservation, Fix It, Home & Auto Maintenance, Home Maintenance, Plumbing, repair

Protect Pipes from Freezing

How to Protect Your Pipes from Freezing | Pretty Handy Girl

In the same vein as Monday’s post about adding insulation, let’s continue preparing for winter. While you are under the house looking at insulation, take notice of your water pipes. Are they insulated too? If not, it’s important to protect your water pipes with foam insulation to prevent them from freezing. Here in North Carolina, we’ve been experiencing more winters with temperatures dipping below freezing and sometimes in the single digits.

Having a water pipe freeze and burst is not a disaster I wish to experience. Water leaks, mold, termite damage and asbestos are plenty of experiences for one handy girl. Given my experience with water leaks, I will do everything I can to prevent future leaks (including installing water leak detectors.)

Ready to learn How to Protect Water Pipes from Freezing? This is one of the easiest tutorials I’ve written. Honest.

Materials:
(contains affiliate links)

Instructions:

If you are venturing into the crawlspace, protect your knees. As a brand ambassador for Duluth Trading Company, I was overjoyed to try these Duluth Trading Company cargo pants with knee pad sleeves. They are now my favorite work pants and I wear them with the inserted knee pads anytime I have to go under the house.

Locate any unprotected water pipes (look for copper, white, red, blue or gray pipes about 3/4 – 1 inch in diameter).

Measure the length of the exposed pipe. Read more

October 30, 2015/8 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

energy conservation, Fix It, Home & Auto Maintenance, Home Maintenance, repair

Is Your Home’s Insulation Ready for Winter?

Is Your Home Ready for Winter? | Pretty Handy Girl

The folks at Duluth Trading Company want you to stay warm and comfortable this winter. They have sponsored this post to help you get your home ready for winter. And to help you stay warm and comfortable while taking on these energy conserving tasks.

Winter is fast approaching and now is the time to check the condition of your insulation. If you have a crawlspace and/or an attic, take a few minutes to check for any fallen or missing insulation. Last summer, my neighbor’s cat had a field day in our crawlspace. Luckily I found him before he was harmed. But, unfortunately he had done a fair amount of damage to the insulation in our crawl space.

Not a big deal, I was able to fix and replace the insulation within half an hour. I’m no stranger to our crawlspace. I have my go to gear when I need to go under the house.

I know a lot of people would sooner poke their eyes out than venture under the house. But, I can honestly tell you that I’ve only seen one creature underneath our house and he was eager to run away from me. If it makes you feel better you can prepare before you go. Here are a few things you’ll want to have and wear:

A Hat (if you are squeamish about cobwebs)
Gloves are a must when working with insulation
Cargo pants with knee pad pockets
Knee pads
Long sleeve shirt to cover your arms
Shoes that can be easily brushed off
Flashlight that can be propped up
Utility Knife

Materials for Installing Insulation:

(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)

About Insulation and R-Values: Read more

October 26, 2015/6 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

31 Days of Handy Home Fixes, energy conservation, Fix It, Home & Auto Maintenance, Plumbing

Day 30 – Seal Gaps Around Pipes

Seal Gaps Around Pipes with GREAT STUFF | Pretty Handy Girl

Do you have an open door policy for drafts and bugs?

Of course not! Wait… you might and not know it. Have you looked under your sinks around the water pipes? If you have gaps around the pipes, you have the welcome sign up for cold air and bugs. Take a few minutes to seal around pipes with GREAT STUFF and you’ll stop them from entering your home.

Before GREAT STUFF approached me about writing a sponsored post for them, I was already a huge fan of their product. And between you and me, this post was already on the list of 31 Days of Handy Home Fixes! But, let’s keep that secret, because we don’t need GREAT STUFF to get an inflated ego. Ha, ha. Get it? Inflated. Oh yes, GREAT STUFF expands!

So much so, that I created a second head when I was working on my kitchen renovation. (I think my Halloween costume is complete, right?!)

But seriously, this is GREAT STUFF! It will fill in any gaps and holes in your home and foundation to prevent bugs and drafts from coming in. GREAT STUFF is easy to use, simply shake the can for 30 seconds. Add the spray nozzle. Don’t forget to put on gloves and eye protection. I created a super quick video to show you how to use GREAT STUFF.:

Spray GREAT STUFF into the gaps around your pipes. Do not overfill as GREAT STUFF expands as it cures.

Keep a wet wipe or paper towel nearby to wipe off the nozzle and wipe up any drips.

Once the GREAT STUFF has cured, trim off any excess with a serrated blade if necessary.

Here are just a few places you can use GREAT STUFF:

Around plumbing pipes under your sink:

In the openings and gaps in your floor vents:

Around pipes and wires entering your home’s foundation:

Have you checked under your sinks or around your foundation lately? Buy a can of GREAT STUFF and seal all the gaps. Then enjoy your winter draft-free and your summers bug-free ;-).

Check out the Dow GREAT STUFF Pinterest board for more ways to use GREAT STUFF.

Pin for later!

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by GREAT STUFF. I was compensated for my time. As always, I’m extremely picky about the products I promote. If I don’t like a product, you won’t see it mentioned. All projects and opinions are my own. I was not told what to write or say about GREAT STUFF.

Other tips in the 31 Days of Handy Home Fixes series:

October 30, 2014/11 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

31 Days of Handy Home Fixes, energy conservation, fireplace, Home & Auto Maintenance, weatherstripping

Day 27 – Put an End to Fireplace Drafts

You may sense a theme here, yesterday I talked about weatherstripping the garage. But, as the temps are dropping, it’s important to take some time to seal your home and eliminate drafts wherever they are lurking. One of the biggest offenders in our home was the fireplace. On cold nights, it is cozy to light a fire. But, on the evenings we didn’t light the fire, I had to bundle up in a blanket to combat the drafty fireplace. Even with the flue closed, it just isn’t weather tight.

The solution can be as simple as cutting a piece of rigid foam insulation to fit into the opening of your fireplace. If you want some more attractive ideas, you could wrap the insulation with fabric. Or use construction adhesive to attach thin plywood and wood slices to the fireplace insert like Pepper Design Blog did:

Another option would be to cover the insulation with black craft paper and draw a chalkboard scene on it:

Inspiration from Sophia’s Decor

Finally, if you want an attractive reclaimed wood fireplace draft stopper, you can build your own following my tutorial here.

At the very least you can cut a piece of rigid foam insulation to fit under the flue. Just remember to remove it before you light a fire.

Stay cozy and warm this winter.

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October 27, 2014/8 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

31 Days of Handy Home Fixes, energy conservation, Fix It, Home & Auto Maintenance, weatherstripping

Day 26 – Weatherstrip Your Garage Doors

Do you have a garage? Are your garage doors insulated or weather stripped? Or do you have big gaps in the sides like this:

If you don’t have weather stripping on your garage doors, you could be throwing away money on heating spaces above and/or next to your garage. Not to mention, making it uncomfortably cold for any of us Handy Peeps who work in the garage.

Day 26 – Weatherstrip Your Garage Doors

In an hour you can seal the gaps around your garage door. This could make a huge difference in the temperature of your garage. And you could improve the temperature in adjacent rooms. After installing the weather stripping we noticed a huge difference in the temperature of our bonus room that sits on top of the garage.

A Garage Door Side and Top Weather-strip Kit costs less than $20. Be sure to measure the sides and top of your garage doors and order enough to cover.

Use the nails included in the kit to secure the garage door seal against your doors.

For a time saving tip and more detailed directions you can follow my full tutorial for installing garage door weatherstripping.

These were the resulting temperature shifts after I installed the weather stripping on our garage doors:

Before Weather Stripping:

Outside Temperature	Inside Garage Temperature	Temperature Difference
45˚F	55˚F	10 degrees
30˚F	45˚F	15 degrees

After Weather Stripping:

Outside Temperature	Inside Garage Temperature	Temperature Difference
45˚F	65˚F	20 degrees
30˚F	58˚F	28 degrees

Go ahead and seal those gaps and enjoy a warmer garage and home this winter.

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October 26, 2014/14 Comments/by Brittany Bailey