When a potential buyer looks at a home listing they try to imagine themselves and their things living in the space.

Pictures are great and provide an overall feel for the design and feel of a space.

What pictures don’t do very well is give a realistic idea of dimensions and very often they are deceitful with the use of wide angle lenses.

You get to a place and the rooms are suddenly tiny.

With a detailed floor plan a buyer can see true measurements and have a better overall vision of the space.

Anymore most realtors are opting for including plans in their listings.

It doesn’t seem like much; a little gap around your outdoor spigots. Separation around your windows and siding. Cables coming into your house and space under your door jams.

Energy auditors using blower door tests and other specialized equipment are able to determine just how big the accumulative hole would be if you added all of those little gaps together.

On average an older Portland home per 1000 sq. ft. has a combined hole to the outside about the size of a beach ball on the small to a hoola hoop on the large. Imagine that, it is like leaving a window open all winter long.

Grab some caulk or polyurethane spray foam and spend some time walking around your house.

Cost $6 per tube/can – Time <1 hour

Did you know that a 12 sq. ft. uninsulated hatch to an attic that is 1000 sq. ft. reduces the insulation value and efficiency of the current insulation by ½?

Heat moves to cold and also floats on cold. This means that your hard-earned heat will escape to the colder attic through this “open” door thus pulling in cold air from outside through leaks. This convection is known as stack effect. Depending on the R value of your current insulation simply adding 4 inches of rigid foam insulation to the hatch will bring your insulation back up to full value and stop this cycle. You can use strong double stick tape or adhesive to adhere the foam board to the hatch.

Cost of materials $10-20 – Time 10 minutes