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I live in a 50 yr old house. There is no insulation in the exterior walls---r-12 in the attic --rockwool
the window screens are covered with visqueen and they fit very tight in the frames, and sitting in my bedroom I can still feel a breeze in here
the windows are double hung single pane but with the screens sealed I cant imagine that much air would travle through them or the walls ....so where is it comming from
do the walls leak that much ? am I feeling the cold air overtaking the warm air?
Feel around the baseboard molding and outlets. With only R-12 in the attic I'm sure the heat will convect up causing a draft. You're kidding about the screens right? Please get some decent storm windows on the outside of the double hungs at the very least. You need 2 layers of glass to create some kind of thermal break. Probably most of the draft is comming from around the window casings where there's large spaces for pocket weights, etc.
John is right. Those old windows are leaking. Best to put in double pane windows and seal them up well. You can pull all your window trim and caulk the crap out of it, but you have done half the work needed to install new windows.
The dead air space in the walls makes better insulation than most people think as long as the walls are tight. 50 year old house probably has 1"x exterior wall decking. It might not be sealed very well, but it is better than just siding over the studs. $20 worth of caulk can go a long way in lowering your utility bills.
Attic insulation is easy. Install as much as you can.
no I wasnt kidding about the windows . The visqueen is only on there rigt now because the windows were the first "leak" that I suspected , so to try and stop what feels like a breeze I blocked the windows.
I know the double hund dual pane windows will help , and I kick myself still for not buying them last year at HD for a C note a piece. They were ordered the wrong size and returned
the exterior walls are stucco(built well back then) with a crawl space under the house
gotta leave for work , see ya tonite
Don't assume old means well built. They had cost shoppers back then too. You had to be willing to pay for the best to get the best back then just like now.
Stucco does a good job of sealing decking gaps. It also makes insulating the walls much more expensive.
Buy a case of caulk and see where that gets you. Untill the caulk starts looking ugly gabbed on the walls: there is no such thing as too much caulk. Expanding foam goes a long way to build a base for caulk in those gaps.
I also put small trim up around the windows and doors of my old house. I used foam, caulk and 1" x s to seal the edges of the floor from inside the crawl space.
With all the attic insulating, sealing and a new sealed duct system and a modern furnace I cut my heating bill to 1/3.