Having a warm and dry home is important,
that's comfortable in winter and cooler in summer.
You'll save on heating costs, and it's good for your health.
And with a lot of your home's heat loss
coming through your windows and doors,
I'll show you a number of easy ways to seal up your home,
get rid of drafts, and prevent the heat from escaping.
You've more than likely got a few gaps
around the exterior of your house.
A common place you'll find them are
like this, right between the weatherboards and the scribers.
These kind of gaps all add up, and are well
worth filling in to stop the heat from escaping.
It's easy to do, and some silicone
will do the job just fine.
So just before we put our masking tape on,
I just want to make sure this area is nice and clean.
So I've got some tips on a rag.
And I'm just going to clean all the gunk off, and make
sure that silicone adheres to the weatherboards properly.
Cool.
That's tickety boo.
OK, our next step is putting our masking tape
on our weatherboards and onto our scriber.
This is going to ensure that we're
going to contain our silicone to that area there.
And it's going to make a nice, neat little join.
So when we're putting our masking tape on,
just want to make sure that we're about three millimeters
away from our gap.
We don't want too much.
And we want to make sure also that you're
using the right masking tape.
There is the right masking tape for every job.
This one here can last for about three to five days.
If you think your job is going to take a little bit longer
than that, you can get a masking type
that you can leave on for a little bit longer.
And I'm just getting in there nice and neat,
using our masking tape to form a really nice, straight line.
Giving us a really good detail.
OK, time to put our silicone on.
The top of silicone I'm using is a UV-resistant,
and it's paintable.
Little tip here when you're using the old silicone gun.
Just take your time.
And I've cut a little nozzle on the end
there, about 45 degrees.
And just work your way down nice and slow.
The idea when you're using the silicone
is you want to make sure it's actually going right
into the crack, it's not just sitting
on the surface of the timber.
So that's really ensuring that we're
going to get a really nice seal, and to stop any drafts coming
through, or any heat escaping from around the side
of your window.
OK, so I've got my little silicone applicator tool here.
Just going to work our way down on 45 degrees,
just making sure that I really squeeze that silicone
in to the join, or into the crack, if you will.
That there is how you silicone up a house.
Before the silicone is dry, carefully
peel off your masking type.
There you go.
Gaps filled and looking lovely.
Easy as.
Double glazing is great for keeping in the warmth,
but if you don't have it, you can use some window film
as a temporary alternative.
It's great for the colder areas of the country,
and it's pretty easy to install and remove.
So the first thing we want to do is
ensure that this window frame is free from any dirt or grease
or dust.
So that way, we get the best adhesion for our film.
OK, now let's just put our tape around our window sash.
And just repeat that process around the other three sides.
OK, now we just want to measure up for our window film.
Now, to do this, we want to allow 25 millimeters extra
on either side of our tape.
So that's pretty much on this situation to the side
of our window frame here.
So that's 530 and 1,290.
OK, the next thing we want to do is take off
our paper tape that exposes our nice, sticky tape behind there.
Cool.
I'm now ready to put on our window film.
Now, using a pair of scissors, I've
just cut the sheet to size.
So let's just put this on nice and gently.
And come down, stretch it out as we go.
Now, you just want to just give this
a slight tighten up as you're putting it on.
Just pull it off and try and get out as many wrinkles
as you can.
OK.
The last thing we need to do is use the mighty hair dryer.
Now, the heat of this is just going
to take out any wrinkles that might still
be there in the film.
Right-o.
We're just about there.
Now, if you've got a few little bits either hanging
past your tape, they look a little bit unsightly,
just use a pair of scissors and tidy them up.
It's also worth considering getting
yourself some thermal curtains.
They're another easy way to help keep the heat inside.
Here's another problem area-- the gap under your doors
can create quite a draft, and the heat just rushes out.
You can easily stop that with one of these weatherstop door
seals.
OK, the first thing we need to do
is measure in between our door jambs.
There's these puppies right on the side here.
OK, so that's 334 mills.
I'm going to take off three millimeters
and mark that on our weather seal,
and cut it with our hacksaw.
OK, the next thing we need to do is mark 45 millimeters
off the bottom of the sill onto our door.
OK, so I'm just going to position my door
seal on our 45-millimeter mark on the door.
And we're going to keep the door seal hard over
to your hinge side.
That's allowing our three-millimeter gap
on your opening side.
OK, so just pull that up to your line,
open up your weather seal.
And that will exposes all our holes there
for us to put our screws in.
So just put a screw one in the middle, and one on either end.
Last thing we need to do is attach our cam to the jamb.
Now, just ensure that your weather seal is
pushed hard down on the sill.
And you just want to screw that in.
We have got a little bit of adjustment on this cam.
There you go, weather seals.
Now that's really going to help keep our winter weather out.
Weather strips are a cost-effective way
to eliminate drafts and noise.
There were a number of different types for different types
of windows and doors.
Now, in my case, I've got a gap that runs from about three
up to around about six millimeters.
So I've checked out the back of the packet,
I've identified my type of doors,
and I've identified my problem.
And that tells me exactly the type of product to use.
So I'm now going to crack on and put that on.
OK, the first thing we need to do
is just make sure all our frame is nice and clean for when
we put on our tape.
Next thing we want to do is roll out our tape
and stick that to the door.
Now, this comes in two pieces.
Let's just separate those out.
Just take the tape off the back.
Now, just stick this to the door frame
so when the door hinges onto it, it's
going to cushion up nice and tight, eliminating any drafts,
and helping our heat from escaping.
Just tap that on there nice and firm.
Make sure it sticks.
Now, the position of the seal on this door
is hard on the door frame here.
So when this door closes, the back of our door
is going to create a perfect seal up against our rubber.
OK, now the position for our top weather seal
is going to go on this particular part of the door
jamb.
So when the doors close, it's going
to cushion up against that rubber,
creating our nice, perfect weather seal.
Sweet.
Now just repeat the same process for the other side
and the bottom.
Here's another couple of insulation tips
for around the house.
Wrapping exposed hot water pipes with foam legging
will stop them losing their heat,
and will help with energy efficiency.
And using a wrap o your hot water cylinder
will also help reduce heat loss, and again, it'll
help with your overall energy efficiency.
So as we've seen, there's a whole lot of simple things
you can do around your house to help seal it up and prevent
heat loss, giving you a warmer home.
You might find you'll even save on electricity, too.
And if you're planning on more substantial insulation,
then check out the guides on how to install wall, ceiling,
and under-floor insulation.
Easy as.