Not every home project needs a contractor and a five-figure quote. Some of the best money you’ll ever spend on a house is about forty dollars at the hardware store and an afternoon of your own time. Caulk, weatherstripping, and a couple of door sweeps do two jobs at once: they cut your heating bill and they keep water out of places water shouldn’t be.
In New Hampshire, where the heating season runs long and the temperature swings are hard on a building, this is some of the highest-return work you can do. Here’s the list.
Re-caulk the tub, shower, and sinks
This is the one people skip, and it’s the one that matters most. When the caulk line around a tub or shower cracks and pulls away, water gets behind it and into the wall and subfloor. You don’t see it until the damage is done. Pull the old, failing caulk, clean the joint, and lay a fresh bead of quality silicone. Twenty minutes of work that prevents the slow, hidden leaks we’re always warning people about.
Seal the exterior gaps
Walk the outside of the house with a tube of exterior-grade caulk. Seal the gaps where trim meets siding, around window and door frames, and anywhere a pipe or wire or fixture penetrates the wall. You’re closing the paths that let water and cold air in. On an older home you’ll find more of these than you expect.
Weatherstrip the doors
Feel around your exterior doors on a windy day. If you can feel a draft or see daylight at the edges, the weatherstripping is done. It peels off and presses back on in a few minutes per door, and it’s the difference between a door that seals and one that leaks heat all winter.
Add a door sweep
The gap under the basement, garage, or side door is a straight line for cold air and the occasional mouse. A door sweep screws or sticks to the bottom of the door and closes it off. A few dollars each.
Hit the obvious drafts
Foam gaskets behind outlet and switch plates on exterior walls, a look at the attic hatch, and the rim joist in the basement if you’re ambitious. Small gaps, but they add up over a long winter.
The payoff
None of this is glamorous and none of it takes skill you don’t already have. But it’s the kind of quiet, preventive work that keeps small problems from becoming the expensive kind. It pairs perfectly with the fall maintenance checklist if you’d rather knock it all out in one seasonal pass.
And if a Saturday with a caulk gun isn’t how you want to spend the weekend, it’s exactly the sort of thing we fold into a regular maintenance visit. See what Dovetails Home Services handles.
Rather hand the whole list off?Book a visit and we'll take it from there.