Fresh air intake...

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Yep.

 

Thats one thing you don't want in the dryer vent.....anything that would obstruct and catch lint will only increase the chance of fires. Keep the outside "flaps/louvres" free and clear of lint also.

You could always erect a wind break to help protect the dryer vent. Just a matter of a piece of plywood on a stake pounded into the ground a couple feet away to block the wind. It would only have to be there in the cold months, no?

 

tried the insulated curtains years back , condensation formed on windows , then later in day melted and made mess of sills- so you still have to have air flowing past those, maybe it was just that house don't know,single pane windows with storms i put up every fall. Replaced all the double hung windows with double hung inserts- double pane units, still put the storms up in the fall - pretty much resolved that problem and made a good dent in heat loss. late 50's build all brick , Likely not much for insulation in those walls. About all that could be done with the walls was foam or blown in cellulose- dense pack. way out of my budget. had already done the attic work. i did pull the molding off the windows and seal gaps up with foam.

 

Excellent advice. An easy way to pinpoint air leaks is to pull up sections of insulation and it it is black, this means that warm, dust laden air has been moving up through the insulation over the years. I have a pic somewhere, can't find it, of some absolute whopper air leaks I found in the attack. All of the fiberglass insulation was removed, a layer of spray foam went in and then a foot of blown cellulose on top.

Another way to see if you have attic air leaks is to look up there on super cold days. If there is frost on the roof sheathing that's absolute proof that warm air is leaking into the attic. Yes, there are soffit and ridge vents to help deal with this, however, that's addressing a symptom and not the problem. Air leaks will be found around top plates and wire and pipe penetrations. Fiberglass insulation does insulate but it does not seal. You can use Great Stuff to seal the leaks. They do make spray foam guns that use disposable canisters of foam and are much easier to use than Great Stuff. Here is a pic of one: