Have you checked/redone the weather stripping around your doors to the outside? A lot of cold air can come in that way.

Depending on your utilities they may provide energy analysis/audits that can pinpoint ways to save.

I think given time all insultation does settle. This house has 12 inch rafters in the attic although in the older parts are even larger, not uncommon in older houses. When we moved in the bats of insulation having been added a few years before were above the level of the rafters. They are now about two inches below.

Depending on probably more the location it was built it may have crossing boards that would prevent the insulation from filling the complete cavity. This can be partially checked by removing electric covers and a small mirror similar to what some auto repair people use to check wiring.

You might want to double check the area surrounding the windows. Some companies put such a light bead of caulk that will pull away from the surrounding surfaces leaving a crack especially at the top and sides. Some will only caulk the outside rather than both.

A friend of a friend uses those mirrors to look at close to the ground flowers that hang down such as hellebores.

I ran my hand around the windows and don’t feel any air. Im sure my doors could use weatherstripping, so ill look into that. I just feel like the walls are cold.

Your house walls are plaster. Probably no insulation at all in the walls. I'd do an energy assessment. Start getting bids.

I feel your pain. My thermostat is set at 70 right now, bedroom door closed and space heater on high in here and my hands and feet are still like ice. I despise my heatpump. After the bathroom and my bedroom flooring are fixed I'm going to look for a wood stove. Only one room stays warm, well two, the bathoom and bedroom that are in the middle of the house. I'm glad to be moving my work computer in that little bedroom this week.

In this area although I think it is now suggested less many installers would caution that you need a regular furnace in addition to a heat pump.

Things that you can try, If you have ceiling fans reverse them for the seasons. They can move the warmer air from the ceiling down to the rest of the room. Couple of years ago I found at IKEA strips of plastic that came with push pins to use at the bottom of inside doors. I have since seen similar at the hardware stores. There are also those old tubes that can be place at the bottom of doors. Depending on your space heater some will only heat the immediate area and pointing a small fan at it can more the warm area to the rest of the room. I was looking the other day and found some enclosed ones that do have fans. Depending on you humidity adding or reducing can change the feel of the air. These suggestions other than the plastic strip I was given when I attended several meeting on how to lower heating and cooling costs.

No longer able to track daily my usage but when I could I discovered there was a temperature above the suggested numbers that my furnace would run less but still keep the house warm until the outside bricks became cold enough to transmit through the walls. Depending on the humidity the range can be from 69 to 73. The strip on the seldom used bedroom seems to keep the temperature in the small hallway where the thermostate is locating from fluctuating.

My daughter had foam insulation done and it made a huge difference. They did it from the outside.

Our first house had very little if at all insulation. One cold winter we had frost on the livingroom wall. Lol

Do you know anyone who owns a themo camera you can borrow.

If the problem is air intrusion, a thermal (not thermo) camera may highlight cold wall bays without pinpointing where the air is coming in from.

My utility companies (both gas and electric) offer those energy assessments for only $25. They come with discounts for any recommended work, as well - air sealing, insulation, upgrades to appliances, new thermostats.

My house is 80 years old and was quite chilly in winter (and the upstairs hot in summer even with AC) - especially the family room addition, which is over a crawl space. After my first winter there I replaced the original, single glazed metal frame windows and had the foam insulation put into the walls - made a big difference in comfort and noise as well (I live quite a RR freight line) even though my recent energy assessment showed that the company had actually missed spaces in between studs in several spots.

The window installers had done as Maifleur mentioned: thin caulk outside that split, no caulk inside under the windowsills - I had to caulk/recaulk to stop the surprising amount of cold that flowed through those very thin gaps. In fact, when I washed the windows last week, I saw that I need to recaulk from old caulk splitting, and because of lack of caulking where the siding installers didn't bother.

Over the years I've also added foiled bubble wrap insulation to the attic rafters, two more layers of r-30 fiberglass insulation to the attic floor, insulation under the FR floor with sealant along the floor edges, and just 2 years ago had them come in and air seal - that's when they go over all the joints, like between the foundation and the sill plate, or in the attic where vents go through, with foam sealant.

Every thing has helped.

A suggestion for the caulking which I need to redo as it does shrink is to use a clear caulk unless you are planning on repainting in a month or so. Just be aware that some of the clear caulks as the dry will emit a strong vinegar smell.

Some caulks suggest waiting before painting over them which is why my comment about repainting in a month or so.

Recently the electric company suggested spraying water on basement windows the pressing bubble wrap on them to reduce the heat loss. For whatever reason I have never been successful in getting it to stick for more than a very short time, couple of days at most.

There can also be air lost if you have an attic fan. Company's used to make covers for them but when I asked last year I was told most people just put a sheet of Styrofoam taped on.

https://usainsulation.net/

Check out if USA Insulation is in your area. They do a fantastic product for your walls. My son and DIL sold a Christian Brothers franchise they started from the ground up and bought a UsA Insulation franchise in CO that they started from the ground up. . They did 2 years of research for a new business while trying to sell their franchise and USA is a SOLID reliable company that offers superior products. You can check out the history of the company at their website. They wouldn't have been in business this long if they were't top notch. Nor would my son and DIL have bought a franchise.

USA Insulation is a franchise operation. I'm probably not alone in preferring to deal with unaffiliated contractor-operated businesses. In my area there is a largish insulation contractor that I used based on its bid and customer references. The estimator told me they tend to be cheaper to deal with than others because their volume purchasing gets them materials at lower prices and they can pass a portion of that on to customers. They did a great job beefing up my attic insulation and talked me out of insulating my crawlspace that I wished to have done - they said it wasn't worth doing.

I've never heard of an auto shop that has a religious affiliation. Does that limit which cars or which customers they deal with?

If the walls are cold, they probably are not insulated. I'd get an energy assessment done first. Many electric utilities offer it for cheap or for free...better than ones done by the same company that will try to sell you their products.

The problem is really one of how best to insulate the walls be it from the inside or the outside. And that would require a contractor who specializes in that. Be sure to check out more than one and get good references. I've seen some houses turn into disasters with a poor application. In our old house, we had brick exterior on block and then plaster walls on the inside with no room for any insulation in between. The best we could do was the attic, which we did. If we'd wanted to do the walls, they'd have to be done from the inside and we'd lose several inches around the rooms and it would be a real mess as we had hot water baseboard radiators which would all have to be moved, and the windows would all have to be retrimmed. No thanks.

Also, even with new windows, they can make a house colder. We got insulated duette shades in our FR and Kit which we pull at night. It's stunning how much cold air comes rushing in from behind the shade in the a.m. when we lift them. And our windows are fairly new casements which seal tighter than double hung.

Elmer, Christian is a common last name around here, so you see signs that say "Christian Construction" or the like.

Check with your utility company to see if they do an energy audit - or refer you to a company that does. We have PSE&G here and had it done at our previous home. They wrapped the pipes that ran through the crawl space under the addition and wrapped the water heater for free. Everything else was a fee.

Weather stripping for sure, but I was also shocked when I was dusting our mantle one day and felt cold air blowing on my leg. Turns out it was from an electrical outlet (outside wall.) I showed my husband so he went around checking the others on outside walls and they were all leaking cold air. We bought insulating gaskets and put them in all the offending outlets. I know you don't have Canadian Tire, but it was the beset picture I could find - I'm sure any hardware store has them and they are simple to DIY.outlet gaskets

ded, our house in Wynnewood with plaster walls was similarly cold. Putting insulation in those walls is a fairly major undertaking, since you're not dealing with drywall, and the expense to redo the plaster is not inconsiderable, so we never did it. (Although that was decades ago, so perhaps the technology has now made things easier.)

Do you have radiators or forced hot air? We had the latter, and had our HVAC guy come out and rejigger some things to redirect more warm air where it was needed.

As I'm sure you've seen, PECO will do a free "Energy Checkup", or a more comprehensive "Energy Assessment" which comes with a cost. It might be worthwhile to get the free one and see what they have to say.

" Elmer, Christian is a common last name around here, so you see signs that say "Christian Construction" or the like. "

laceyvail, I looked at the website (unfamiliar with the business) before making the comment. The guy who started the company is named Mark Carr. On the company's website, there are bits of text using language typically used by one particular religious sect:

"One night, feeling particularly discontent, Mark prayed and asked God to provide him a business"..... and a bit farther along " They were encouraged by their Sunday school class to call it Christian Brothers Automotive, as they were two brothers in Christ. "

Ignoring the grammatical error in the quoted sentences, such comments were what I based my own comment on.

I had forgotten about the foam gaskets for the outlets - great idea. Home Depot sells them as well.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I dont think there is much space in the walls since my house , like Annies former house, is brick on cinderblock.

The house has forced air which i hate. Gets warm , get cold and so on. The furnace does have a humidifier on it. Actually the technician is coming out in a couple weeks for my annual imspection somI may pick his brain about other possibilities.

As I recall, Imdid put the foam gaskets in the outlets when I noticed abreeze coming through them. I also put plastic over an air return on an outer wall that let cold air in.

I think having PECO come in first is a good idea. So many possibilities.

Nothing worse than feeling cold in your own home - hope you find a solution.

Those gaskets need to be replaced periodically I checked the one next to where I normally sit and there is a gap along the sides.

Dedtired, the problem with the house cycling between warm and cold could be that your furnace is not correctly sized for your house. How old is it?

Mine was like that until I got a new furnace in 2006 (bought the house in 1992) - the 30 year old, single speed furnace was quite a bit bigger (in BTUs) than was recommended, and the new, smaller, variable cycle furnace has kept the inside temperature on a more even keel. It is more efficient too. My gas bill dropped so much that the gas company came out 3 times to check the meter!

Commenting on rae -- yes, getting the 'right sized' furnace is vital. Often heating contractors want to sell you a bigger unit than you need for their own profit reasons. Our dual speed Carriers are still going after 21 years.