This year when you find old man Winter on your

stoop, make sure he is knocking on a storm door. Winterize

your home to keep Winter outside! Relatively uncomplicated

and inexpensive, winterizing can spare you from chilly nights

and high heating bills.

To winterize your home, take these basic steps:

1. Install insulation. Your home hides crevices

through which heat escapes. Insulation seals those gaps and

traps fugitive heat within your home, saving you money

and keeping you warm. For guaranteed results:

· Affix weather-stripping to garage

doors. This is important when you enter your home through your

garage. Measure, cut and then nail-on flexible seal

weather-stripping to the door's bottom. For the door's top and sides, nail

heavy-duty vinyl weather stripping that keeps wind outdoors.

· Bind weather stripping around windows and

doors. Heat loss through window and door cracks can increase

a home's heating bill by 35 percent. On a windy day, hold

a tissue near cracks along your home's window and

door frames. If you see the tissue move, you have drafts.

Use caulking to seal the tiny cracks. A thin, clear plastic

film attached to the inside of a window with two-sticky-sided

tape can prevent cold air from seeping through crevices.

Closed shutters, blinds, curtains and draperies also help

insulate windows. Fasten a door sweep onto your door's foot end

to prevent cold air from slipping under it.

· Seal up the attic. Seal cracks around the attic

access holes and lighting fixtures then add insulation to the attic

floor so that heat does not escape from your living space into

your attic. But is you use your attic as a "living" room, insulate

its ceiling and walls but not its floor so heat can rise-up

through the floor from the rest of the house.

2. Install storm doors. Storm doors block drafts.

Each storm door should include a doorstop that controls how far

it can open. More cold air sweeps in through a wide-open

door than through one controlled stop. A storm door should

also come with a pneumatic closer that prevents it from

opening too quickly. You can install two pneumatic closures on

your storm door for extra protection against high winds.

3. Add fireplace insulation, dampers and doors.

A lit fireplace can actually draw heat away from your home

shape, can minimize heat loss through the fireplace. Check to

make sure your damper is in good working order and replace it

if necessary. Also glass doors over the fireplace opening

will decrease heat loss through the chimney as the fire

smolders. Seal off and insulate your chimney if you never use

your fireplace and insulate the flue so condensation doesn't form

in the chimney.

4. Replace furnace filters. Clogged furnace filters

decrease airflow through the heating system, demand the unit

to work harder and, therefore, increase your heating

bills. Fortunately, filters are disposable, inexpensive and

easily replaced. Most standard filters need to be changed monthly.

5. Prevent frozen or broken water pipes. If your

pipes freeze, they can break, leaving you without water for

days. Even pipes not exposed to the outdoors can freeze,

especially those that can run through exterior walls or crawl spaces.

You can snap foam rubber insulation sleeves right onto your

pipes. Just cut them lengthwise to make them fit as closely

as possible on ends, corners, and junctions then cover slits

and joints with vinyl duct tape. You can also wrap pipes

running through unheated areas with special heating strips that

use electricity to localize heat in potential problem areas.

6. Close off unused rooms. Conserve fuel by using

drapery to close off rooms you rarely use. You can always

remove the drapery to use the room for special occasions.

7. Check carbon monoxide and fire

detectors. Fires are more likely to breaks out in your home during the winter.

And carbon monoxide threats are more serious in the winter

when homes are tightly sealed or "winterized."

8. Prepare for winter storms. Stock the woodpile.

Make sure all flashlights have working batteries. Store candles

and matches in case of a power outage. Have an emergency

heat source, such as a fireplace, wood stove, space heater or

gas log, on hand.

(Dennis Floyd, CEO of Chadwick Homes, is president

of the Home Builders Association of Midwest Georgia,

which serves a membership of approximately 385 builders

and associate members in Fayette, Coweta, Spalding, Heard

and Meriwether counties.)

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