Insulating/draft questions

Hi, We are in a South Slope frame house that badly needs windows and doors replaced. But before I put a new door on our back, or anything else, I wanted to understand if there is any other work that ought to be done before that – e.g. if I need insulation in my walls (is there such a thing?!) would I need to do that before the door? I also need to redo the facade, front and back. I’m not ready to all that work yet, but in the meantime we’re freezing and the back door in particular must be replaced as soon as possible. Lastly, what is the proper expert to tap for evaluating our needs – would it be an architect? A contractor? An insulating specialist? Our contractor advised us that once we replaced the door we would stop worrying that our walls are made of tissue paper, but when we open the oven and get blasted with the polar vortex, it makes us wonder if there isn’t a bigger problem here . . Many thanks for your suggestions!

elm_bk

in Construction 11 years and 9 months ago

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cmu | 11 years and 9 months ago

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cost = ‘cost/benefit’ And can you exaplain the polar draft from the oven? Mysterious.

cmu | 11 years and 9 months ago

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Replace the door asap with a fully weather-sealed one. Will make a difference, as air infiltration leading to a chimney flow of warm air out the top is a major heat loss. (I noticed that the 10-deg day after the snow, my bedroom floors were noticably warmer…because snow had sealed the sills of the windows! Back to normal now). You need a energy auditor (look up companies, I can recc. Brooklyn Green Home Solutions, BGHSI.com) who’ll make recccs. on blown-in insulation in the cockloft, sealing of air leaks on top floor, other insularion and maybe new windows (in order of increasing cost). When I first moved in (I have a semi-detached) I wanted to retrofit the unattached wall completely with insulation as I thought there’s all the heat loss. After getting a quote, decided I had to keep my first-born.