A great thing about the shutdown
What to do, at home with time on your hands? It’s a great opportunity to get stuck into some draughtproofing so your home’s more comfortable and the inevitable winter energy bills don’t hurt so much. It’s the most cost-effective form of home energy upgrade there is, it’s easy, and you can tackle it in big or small steps to suit your enthusiasm.
I worked on my house over 12 months leading up to Sustainable House Day last year, sometimes intensively and other times very slowly. I still haven’t tackled everything. Three cupboards and the electrical cable to the oven still need attention, but the house holds its temperature much better, and I’ve moved on to other priorities. I don’t remember the house feeling draughty when I started, apart from some obvious gaps around the front and back doors, but as the project progressed draughts became more noticeable. With equipment at the ready, I was prepared to caulk gaps as I identified them (even at 10pm!).
How can you get started? We’ve deferred a planned skills workshop at the Woodend Neighbourhood House until the current restrictions have eased. In the meantime, here are some resources to help:
A video from Sustainability Victoria, (less than 3 minutes) that explains why draughtproofing is important, how to find draughts and what to do about them. A graphic shows important places to check for draughts. There are some important cautions on SV’s page too: check them out. They have some great tips about chimneys, evaporative cooler outlets and exhaust fans, doors, windows and floors.
Check out Green It Yourself for a range of more instructive (and entertaining) videos including how to load a caulking gun. Also really useful: draught-proofing architraves around windows and doors and draught-proofing skirting boards. You’ll find instruction on draught-proofing wall vents , draught-proofing extractor fans with draft-stoppa, and on draught-proofing ducted gas heating vents
The DIY Energy Efficient Home Project is a treasure trove of ideas in written form and short videos, prepared by ecoMaster: a real “deep dive” on home sustainability ideas.
ecoMaster’s online store can help you out with most of what you will need, so (with the possible exception of a caulking gun) you probably won’t need to leave home to make a start.
Finally, some money! If you didn’t claim the Power Saving Bonus in 2018-19, get online before June 30th, compare electricity (or gas) deals and claim $50. You don’t even have to change plans, just do the comparison and claim the $50! And with all the things that are off the agenda at the moment (is anyone actually missing peak hour commuting?), perhaps it’s a good time to put some coin into making home a more comfortable place.
Looking forward to hearing stories of more comfortable homes with lower energy bills when we can all venture out again. Good luck everyone!