Weatherization & Drafts
Handis weatherization is whole-envelope air sealing on a Seattle home in one visit — weatherstripping at windows and attic access, door sweeps at exterior thresholds, attic-hatch insulation, foam gaskets on exterior outlets, seasonal window film, and crawlspace vent covers, from $120 per door or window to $1,200 for a comprehensive draft sweep. Beyond the price floor lives the felt cost — the cold draft you can feel from across the room in January, the attic-hatch outline you can trace with the back of your hand, the outlet on the exterior wall that blows cold air at the plug, the single-pane window the previous owner never upgraded, the open crawlspace vents that turn the floor into a refrigerator deck from November through March. Weatherization is the trade for the slow energy losses no one sees on a thermostat — together they account for roughly 25 to 40 percent of the heating load on a typical Seattle home per Department of Energy field studies.
Services
What Does Weatherization & Drafts Include?
Weatherization and draft sealing is the trade that closes the building envelope against winter air leakage across six service families — whole-home weatherstripping, exterior door sweeps, attic-hatch insulation, outlet and switch gaskets, seasonal window film, and crawlspace vent covers — typically running $120 to $1,200 depending on scope. A typical Seattle craftsman or mid-century home has 20 to 40 leak paths in the building envelope — none of them obvious on their own, all of them costing real money every winter. The Department of Energy estimates whole-home air sealing cuts heating and cooling costs by an average of 15 percent when done thoroughly. Each family targets a specific leak path and uses a specific material — the truck carries all of it.
Whole-Home Weatherstripping
V-strip, foam tape, and compression weatherstripping at windows (every sash that opens), at attic-access panels, around basement-access hatches, and at the garage-to-house door. Distinct from the door-threshold weatherstripping that lives under door repairs and adjustments — this is the perimeter sealing of every other moving opening in the envelope. From $150.
Whole-Home Weatherstripping — windows, attic access, garage-to-house door, hatches
Door Sweeps
Adjustable aluminum-and-vinyl door sweeps installed at exterior thresholds — the front door, the back slider, the garage-to-house entry. The 1/4-inch gap under a typical exterior door leaks the same air as a four-inch hole in the wall. We measure, cut to length, and seat the sweep flush against the threshold without binding the door open or shut. From $120.
Door Sweeps — under-door drafts, threshold gap, garage entry
Attic Hatch Sealing
The attic-access panel in most houses is a piece of 1/2-inch plywood resting in an unsealed frame — uninsulated, gasketless, often the single largest point heat loss in the conditioned envelope. We add closed-cell foam weatherstripping around the frame, glue 2-inch rigid foam insulation to the back of the panel, install latches so the gasket actually compresses, and (where present) seal the pull-down attic-stair box with a rigid-foam tent. From $150.
Attic Hatch Sealing — gasket, rigid-foam panel, latches, stair-box tent
Outlet & Switch Gaskets
Foam gaskets installed behind the cover plate of every electrical outlet, switch, cable jack, and thermostat on an exterior wall. The plastic electrical box is a perfect chimney for cold air bypassing the insulation in the cavity behind it — a complete house has 30 to 60 of these on exterior walls. From $150 for the whole-home sweep.
Outlet & Switch Gaskets — foam gaskets, exterior-wall plates, whole-home sweep
Window Film & Draft Kits
Seasonal shrink-film kits applied with double-sided tape and a hair dryer over single-pane windows, drafty old aluminum-frame windows, and basement awning windows that cannot be replaced this season. Removable in spring without paint damage. Also covers magnetic interior storm-window panels at historic homes where exterior storms are not allowed. From $150.
Window Film & Draft Kits — shrink film, magnetic storms, removable seasonal kits
Crawlspace Vent Covers
Seasonal foam-insulated covers installed over open foundation vents for the November-through-March cold months, then removed in spring so the crawlspace can dry through summer. Distinct from permanent vent closure (a moisture and code-jurisdiction question). We size to your actual vent count, label each cover by location, and store the kit for next season. From $150.
Crawlspace Vent Covers — seasonal foundation-vent covers, labeled storage kit
Weatherization & Drafts Pricing
Final pricing depends on the count of doors, windows, outlets, and vents on the actual house, and on whether the visit covers a single sub-category or a whole-home sweep. Multi-service visits are cheaper per item than booking each separately. Request a free estimate for an accurate quote.
Tell us where you can feel drafts — we will quote the full envelope, not one door at a time.
Why Choose a Professional for Whole-Home Weatherization?
Most weatherization calls trace back to the same blind spots — the homeowner can feel the cold draft under the front door, so the front door gets sealed and the bill barely moves. The real losses are at the attic hatch (often the single biggest leak in the house), at the 40 outlet boxes on exterior walls (each a small chimney), at the windows that never close fully, and at the crawlspace vents the previous owner left open year-round. After a few hundred Seattle weatherization visits — craftsman bungalows, 1950s ramblers, 1990s split-levels, new construction with builder-grade seals — every one of those losses has a fix. We walk the whole envelope on every visit, not just the door you called about.
Whole-envelope walk on every visit, not just the door you called about
A typical Seattle home has 20 to 40 air-leak paths — front door, back slider, attic hatch, 30 to 60 outlet boxes on exterior walls, 8 to 14 windows, 4 to 8 crawlspace vents, garage-to-house door, basement bulkhead. We walk every accessible one of them, flag what is leaking, and tell you which fixes pay back this winter and which can wait. Single-door visits get the door done; the bill stays high.
Right material for each leak path
V-strip at the window sash that needs to compress when closed. Foam tape at the attic hatch frame where the panel just rests. Closed-cell foam at the door bottom where the threshold is uneven. Foam gaskets behind every outlet plate on exterior walls. Rigid foam glued to the back of the attic hatch panel for actual R-value, not just air sealing. The truck carries all of it sized for the openings on your house, not one universal kit.
Seasonal vs permanent — we tell you which is which
Shrink film on a single-pane window is a winter-only fix that comes off in April. Outlet gaskets are permanent. Crawlspace vent covers come on in November, off in March (closing them year-round traps summer humidity in the crawlspace and grows mold — a building-science failure we will not do). We label what is reversible and what is not on the booking call and at the end-of-visit walkthrough.
Measured payback, not vague promises
Department of Energy field studies put whole-home air sealing at 10 to 20 percent off the heating bill, with the bulk coming from the attic plane (hatch plus top-of-wall seams) and the foundation plane (rim joist plus crawlspace vents). We tell you on the booking call which fixes carry the math and which are comfort-only (still worth doing if the draft bothers you, just not a bill-mover).
Insured, background-checked, 30-day guarantee
Every Handis weatherization technician carries liability insurance and has cleared a background screening. If weatherstripping pulls loose, a door sweep starts dragging, an attic hatch gasket fails to compress, or a window film loses adhesion within 30 days because of our workmanship, we come back and fix it at no extra charge.
Estimate
Tell us the home age, the rooms with active drafts, the count of doors and windows, and whether the attic hatch and crawlspace vents have ever been addressed — we will send back a clear estimate.
What Our Customers Say
Recent weatherization reviews from verified Seattle customers.
1962 rambler in Wedgwood, single-pane windows on the north side, gas bill running $280 in December even with the thermostat at 64. Tech walked the whole house in 40 minutes, flagged the attic hatch (uninsulated plywood resting on trim), the outlet boxes on the north wall (every one of them blowing air at the plug), and three windows that no longer sealed. Did the work in one afternoon. December gas dropped to $215 the following year — same thermostat setting.
1924 craftsman in Phinney Ridge, original double-hung windows we did not want to replace for historic-character reasons. Tech installed V-strip on every sash, magnetic interior storm panels on the four worst windows, and rigid-foam panels in the attic hatch. The bedrooms that were always cold are normal now. He never tried to sell us replacement windows.
Pre-winter comprehensive package on our 1995 split-level. Door sweeps on the front, back, and garage-to-house door, foam gaskets on 38 outlets across the exterior walls, four crawlspace vent covers labeled and stored, attic hatch insulated. Took most of a day. The kids' bedrooms over the garage are no longer freezing in January.
New baby coming, wanted the nursery to stop being 6 degrees colder than the rest of the house. Tech traced the cold to two single-pane basement awning windows directly under the nursery, a missing door sweep on the back slider, and outlet boxes on the exterior wall. Window film on the awnings, new sweep, foam gaskets behind every plate on that wall. Nursery now matches the rest of the upstairs.
Crawlspace vent covers. The contractor who built our addition left four foundation vents open year-round and the kitchen floor was unwalkable in socks December through February. Tech sized custom foam covers to each vent, labeled them by location, gave us a written schedule for putting them on in November and pulling them in March. Floor is now the same temperature as the rest of the room.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about whole-home weatherization, draft sealing, and seasonal envelope work in Seattle.