insulation... who would've thought :)

I FINALLY found a free hour to spend on my leaking sliding glass door. My kitchen has been significantly colder than the rest of the house, and the rest of the house I've been struggling to keep above 65 with just the stove running on medium (3/5). The oil pig kicks on once an hour at night lately.

I knew my sliding door was junk. It's been on my list to replace for a few years now, but I just haven't had the extra $1000 to do it. Hoping this years tax return I can get a new door.

I don't know how, but the frame or house must've shifted to the point where the door doesn't even close against the chassis. You can literally see light through the cracks to outside without even trying.

So, i went to ocean state job lot, and bought the last 4 rolls of foam insulation stuff. 1 17' big roll for the main door latching area, and 3 of the smaller 10' rolls to fill in the smaller cracks and got to it.
I stuffed it in every nook and cranny, sometimes in as many as 3 layers. The place where the outside pane meets the inside pane was also a gaping crack. I could literally feel a breeze just standing there with the door closed. Rediculous. stuffed 20 feet in there too.

it's been about an hour now, and the house is back up to temp from the stove (i had the door opened and closed as i worked for about a half hour) after i cranked it to 4. I'm going to turn it back down to 3 and turn my oil thermostats from the 65 i have them at to 62 and see what plays out tonight.

It's ugly, and I don't care this will all be ripped down in a few months.


I can feel the kitchen is already significantly warmer due to the lack of draft.


pics in next post:

 

Pics

 

My next problem is this octogonal window i have. it leaks like cray too. not sure where to seal this one. there's no noticable areas that are gapping holes. More so, the glass is single pane i think.

 

Any ideas on how to insulate this guy?

 

maybe some shrink saran plastic! for the winter that is....

 

I had 2 of those in my previous abode.....leaked just like yours. I used the 3M shrinkable window plastic ivanhoe mentioned. I put the adhesive tape 1/2 on the window frame and 1/2 on the actual wall.......did the trick.

 

Hey, ya do what you have to, to keep warm & lower your heat bill.

 

Insulation is the Key ,no matter what stove you have or pellet you burn lets capture all the heat we can

 

As long as Fido is happy, she's happy

 

I have a problem wall at the back of my kitchen. 10 years ago my bride decided to have her son build a purgola on our patio. Instead of making it free standing he tied it into the back wall of the kitchen and called it done without doing any trim work or insulation. Then she had the old chimney removed and the guys left the back wall open where the chimney was. I scabbed some blue board insulation in there and stuffed aerosol foam insulation in every crack and crevice. So the wall cabinets on that side of the kitchen are now great places to store stuff like butter, milk etc since it stays a nice 40f during the weekend.

This will be fixed for next year.

 

Got a old slider in basement,do that also.Got even older one in bedroom,and as deck is not there yet I caulked it shut then tacked in a 1x2 framework and covered with the shrink film.On your windo the thing to do(next summer) is remove inside and outside trim and caulk,glass also then make a pop in interior storm window out of shrink film.Real easy,good directions on net,will find and post.Have 2 in upstairs windows and work great,but they are plexiglass,did not think of the film,would have been much faster and cheaper.

 

http://www.midcoastgreencollaborative.org/storms.html also the preacher that puts on the workshops has a series of you tube vids that shows putting them together.

 

I got 2 old sliders and the test of my windows need replaced something fierce. I want to redo my exterior, sheathing and all so might add a little insulation when and if I do.

 

Your slider looks like our old one that I had replaced 2 years ago. It even had the same handle, and it leaked as bad as yours sounds. I found a nice used Andersen for 200 and it's been one of the best things I've had done to my house. We take our dogs out to do their business through the patio door, so, it got a lot of use. It got so bad that the winter before I replaced it, I actually taped the leaks shut. The night that I taped it, it was a blizzard, and snow was coming through the cracks. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

 

when was your house built? mine was in 1997. curious if it was a cheap contractor pak. there's a label on it... but it's inside the door now and i can't open it due to the insulation lol

 

My house was built in 1965. Probably just the same design handle and similar hardware plugs above. My old slider was all wood framed, and HEAVY. The Andersen we have in there is bigger, and lighter, vinyl clad. Most importantly it seals well, rolls nicely, and keeps our heat in and cold out.

 

Wifey found a draft and did some ugly insulating also.