Winterizing a big old house?

Plastic up your windows - this is a major heat loss for old homes. Also, weather seal the doors - a very cheap and effective weather seal around doors is plastic rolled in a tube and stapled to the sides to form a tight seal.

For one year, I would not invest in insulating. Insulating is futile unless you do it ALL. Any wall, ceiling, etc that is not insulated will be the path the heat takes. Heat is like a lazy person - it seeks and finds the easiest route out and takes it. And to insulate properly might not pay back for 3 or more years.

If you have an available chimney, buy a free-standing decorative wood stove, start gathering dead wood on public land, as allowed, and use this to supplement heat. Then take the stove with you when you move. If you are older, perhaps some friends can help with the wood.

I agree with this. Vents will still leak heat even when closed. I would tape them up and put a piece of carpet with something heavy on it over the vents. Be sure to also close off the cold air returns in those rooms, and make sure the air returns in the rooms you are using are clear. Open south facing drapes during the day. Make a lot of home made soup, a big pot of hot water throws heat and provides humidity, you might want to get a humidifier also.

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Libertarindependent

I stapled up the radiant insulation (imagine heavy aluminum foil) on my outside (but inside) walls, then covered (with staples again) paint drop cloths - the light canvas ones over it. It really seemed to help - very nuetral color, easy to do, removable easily. I got a roll of the insulation from ebay - look for the offers with free shipping for about $65. I got the 4' wide roll so I could handle it myself . I also am in an ancient house, that's not worth expensive remodeling - just want it warmer until I leave.

In the Fall we have a ton of leaves here. We bag them up and then stack them around the house, and even start another row around where the kitchen and bathroom are. After the first heavy snow go out and pile it all over the bags. Replenish again when needed.

In the spring it's great to have all those leaves for mulch.

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We put bales of straw on the windward sides of the foundation. Enough are used that they go slightly above the floor. In the spring I use the bales on my gardens. Make sure you get straw bales that are bound with plastic twine.Farmteck makes a foil backed bubble wrap that I have made covers for the windows that need it,it rolls up and I made Velcro to close it. Home depot also carrys rolls of this insulation.

I'm in Northern Vermont, about 15 miles from the Canadian border. It's Zone 3 here, to give you an idea of the temperatures. Heat generally runs from October through April. We're already getting nights in the high 40s.

The house does have blown-in insulation from years ago (I think it's settled at this point, but it's better than no insulation at all). The rim joist insulating is definitely something I'll do, as that's something I can tackle myself and I already have the spray foam to do it. I'll plastic some of the doors in the house, but I don't want to cut those rooms off entirely (two of them at least I need to periodically get into), so others will get the comforter treatment.

I wish I could have a woodstove in this house, but unfortunately it's not possible.

Take good look and feel at the doors you want to keep closed. Put your hand on the floor at the bottom of the door. This is likely where most of the cold air is moving, especially in a house that was once carpeted but now bare floored. Fill in the space under the door. You can even buy stuffed fabric tubes to put there. Move your hand around the door and see if there are other places air is seeping. Because of the door jamb, there may not be. If so, stuff them.

The windows in old houses were made of wood, which has shrunk. This is where most of the cold window air is from, the windows don't fit anymore. Put in new window putty around the panes of glass to stop air movement there, and then concern yourself with the cold air moving between the window and the wall.

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Nothing is as strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength - St. Francis de Sales

Having lived in too many old drafty homes the plastic is key, caulk as above and use the grey worm stuff before the plastic. Doors all need weather stripping and looser windows as well before the worms. When we lived in Maine we banked an old house with hay bales as well. We shut off rooms and used space heater in the bathrooms and whatever room we were in. Don't forget the long johns and sleeping in a hat!

So glad we live in a warmer climate and newer home now