At Home with Lisa: Foam Insulators

I love living in the Inland Northwest, but two things you can rely on are the very cold winters and the very hot summers.

My old house has a million places where the cold can seep in during the winter months, or, like right now, the hot air from outside can seep in. Last week, I installed a door sweep, but places I hadn’t thought about were my outlets and light switches. I have some outlets and switches that are on an outside wall.

When I attended last year’s Energy Fair, I got a package of foam insulators made just for this problem. You can also find them at any hardware store for very little money.

First, I watched this video to learn how to install them. I’m learning there is a video on Avista’s website for everything! If you are like me and don’t know how to do these projects or just need a bit of inspiration to get started, check out this page on Avista’s website.

I found my screwdriver, turned off the power to that outlet and got to work.

This is a very easy project for folks like me who aren’t very handy. I unscrewed the plate, placed the insulator in around the sockets and screwed the plate back into place. I turned the power back on, and everything works.

The package of insulators I have includes not only outlet insulators, but ones I can use on my light switches, too. Sooner or later, I hope to have my whole house sealed shut from the elements.

Lisa, an Avista customer, bought her 1910 house because she loved the old-world character, some of which doesn’t make her house very energy efficient.  Lisa is sharing her experience on taking some simple do-it-yourself improvements to inspire others to do the same.  You’ll find her stories right here every Tuesday morning.