Rural Missouri - November 2011 - (Page 4)

C O M M E N T S Seal your home & wallet “Devoted to the rural way of life” November 2011 Volume 63 / Number 11 Jim McCarty, editor jmccarty@ruralmissouri.coop Jason Jenkins, managing editor jjenkins@ruralmissouri.coop Heather Berry, associate editor hberry@ruralmissouri.coop Kyle Spradley, field editor kspradley@ruralmissouri.coop Megan Schibi, editorial assistant mschibi@ruralmissouri.coop Mary Davis, production manager mdavis@ruralmissouri.coop Angie Jones-Gerber Dusty Weter Co-op page designers S Comfort can be costly if your home isn’t properly sealed heat pump is another source of energy loss. According to Energy Star, sealing and insulating ducts improves system efficiency by as much as 20 percent. Of course, this requires effort and time. First, focus on ducts running through unconditioned crawl spaces, garages and attics. Seal ducts using a special duct sealant or metal tape that can be found at most home improvement stores. Despite the name, don’t use duct tape — it doesn’t last as long as sealant or metal tape. Once ducts are sealed, check connections at bends and air registers to make sure everything is tight. Once finished, wrap ducts with insulation. Since this may be a dirty and time-consuming job, many homeowners ask a HVAC company to perform this work. Another dirty job involves adding insulation to the attic and floors exposed to crawl spaces or unheated areas. The amount of insulation needed varies depending on your home’s location. R-values reflect the ability of insulation to resist the transfer of heat. Higher R-values indicate more effective insulation. The typical home will need anywhere from R-38 to R-49 in an attic and R-25 in floors. You can get advice on how much insulation you need at your local hardware store. In an ideal world, wall insulation should also be increased, but this generally is not practical. Remember, no amount of insulation will help if doors or windows are left open. A rush of cold outside air can cause your heating unit to fire up, especially if the door isn’t closed right away. Create a jar and charge repeat offenders $1 each time a door is left open when someone leaves or enters the home. Use that money to buy caulking and weatherstripping to seal up windows and other cracks. Sealing your home can turn into a fun activity. Have each member of the family explore the house and identify problem areas. Whoever finds the most areas to fix gets to be the foreman while the rest of the family fixes the problems. It’s a fun and simple way to get the entire family engaged as you work together to seal your home and your wallet. taying comfortable at home often means turning up the heat or air conditioning. But comfort can be costly if your home is not properly sealed from the elements. Roughly half of the energy used by a home powers heating and cooling. In a poorly insulated home, conditioned air slips outside. Sometimes air leaks are obvious. If you pass by a window or door and feel a change in temperature, something is wrong. Some folks think it means they need new windows, and that could be the case. But for most, spending a few minutes and a few dollars to seal a home adds up to big savings. Cold air enters a home through small openings. To find problem areas, use a lit incense stick or a recently extinguished match and move it around the edge of closed windows and doors, watching for drafts to move the smoke. Here are a few remedies to fix the problem: • Add weatherstripping to the edges of windows and doors. Weatherstripping typically uses sticky tape to adhere to the side of the window and fill gaps. • If your home uses single-pane windows, consider adding storm windows to the exterior as added insulation. • Replace old cracked caulking. Make sure you use caulking designed for the application. There are different types of caulk for exterior, interior and bathroom applications; don’t use bathroom caulk on the outside of your home. Also, make sure the caulk can be painted if you want it to blend in with the rest of your home. • Use insulated curtains to prevent further heat loss. • Remove all window air conditioning units when summer ends. A quick walk around the outside of your home reveals other prime candidates for quick and easy repairs. Anytime a hole is drilled into a home, it creates potential for energy loss. Check pipe and wire penetrations — they should be sealed on both exterior and interior walls. This not only helps prevent energy loss, but also keeps critters from taking up residence. The ductwork of a forced air furnace, central AC unit, or USPS 473-000 ISSN 0164-8578 Copyright 2011, Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives. Call for reprint rights. Rural Missouri is published monthly by the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives. Barry Hart, executive vice president. Individual subscription rate: $9 per year or $21 for three years, taxes and postage included. Group rate for members of participating RECs $3.99, taxes and postage included. Delivery as specified by subscriber. If not specified, delivery will be by periodical class mail at subscriber’s expense. Periodical Class postage paid at Jefferson City, MO, and additional mailing offices. www.ruralmissouri.coop Find us on P.O. Box 1645 Jefferson City, MO 65102 573-659-3423 info@ruralmissouri.coop Rural Missouri Davis new manager at Pemiscot-Dunklin www.facebook.com/ruralmissouri Postmasters: Send address changes to Rural Missouri, P.O. Box 1645, Jefferson City, MO 65102. Subscribers: Report change of address to your local cooperative. Do not send change of address to Rural Missouri. Advertising standards: Advertising published in Rural Missouri is accepted on the premise that the merchandise and services offered are accurately described and sold to customers at the advertised price. Rural Missouri and Missouri’s electric cooperatives do not endorse any products or services advertised herein. Advertising that does not conform to these standards or that is deceptive or misleading is never knowingly accepted by this publication. Advertising information: mdavis@ruralmissouri.coop 573-659-3400 National Advertising Representative: National Country Market; 611 S. Congress St., Suite 504; Austin, TX 78704 573-659-3400 Member, Missouri Association of Publications and Missouri Press Association T Tim Davis he board of directors at Pemiscot-Dunklin Electric Cooperative has named Tim Davis general manager of the 8,500-member system that serves the Bootheel. Tim is a resident of Holcomb and a 1976 graduate of Senath-Hornersville High School. The new manager began his career in the electrical industry in 1977 when he worked as an apprentice lineman for Kelley Electric in Kennett. In 1980, he accepted a position as a lineman for Kennett’s Light, Gas and Water Department. He joined Pemiscot-Dunklin Electric in 1985 as a lineman and advanced to operations manager in 2002. In this role, he distinguished himself during the ice storm that devastated Pemiscot-Dunklin’s lines in 2009, overseeing the largest mobilization of crews and equipment to restore power in the history of rural electrification. He has served as interim manager since the retirement of former Manager Charles Crawford earlier this year. Davis and his wife, Donna, have two children. Their daughter, Summer, is a first grade teacher and the mother of Tim and Donna’s three grandchildren. Their son, Nathan, is attending law school at St. Louis University in St. Louis. Missouri’s electric cooperatives welcome Davis to his new position at the cooperative. 4 WWW.RURALMISSOURI.COOP http://www.ruralmissouri.coop http://www.facebook.com/ruralmissouri http://www.facebook.com/ruralmissouri http://WWW.RURALMISSOURI.COOP

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Rural Missouri - November 2011

Rural Missouri - November 2011
Table of Contents
Comments
Columns
In search of Missouri mills
Co-ops take action
Outdoors
Best of rural Missouri
Out of the Way Eats
Second chance ranch
Grant takes command
Hearth and Home
News Briefs
The hillbilly approach to the Woodstock nation
Marketplace
Around Missouri
Neighbors
Just4Kids

Rural Missouri - November 2011