Great Stuff - Sealing Up Your Home

You know some of the simplest ways to save money around your home are often the ones you over look. I'm not sure why this is, but is always seems to be the case at my house. I'll be thinking and planning and doing larger projects, all the while little stuff is just sucking money out of my pocket and energy is wasting away!

My most recent example of this is in the basement of the house we just started renting this summer. I remember noticing a few cracks here and there in the foundation and some spots that could get sealed up around pipes and other openings to the outside. I noticed this in the first week or so of moving in. It was summer time and I wasn't so conscious of it because I wasn't constantly thinking about the level of the fuel oil in the tank like I am now.

Well I happened to be doing stuff in the basement the other day with the kids during the day and looked at one spot where I could actually see daylight! Yikes! That was it. It was time for Great Stuff. Great stuff is my favorite thing ever! Partially because it does such a good job so easily sealing up crack and partially because I think it the most genius name for a product ever! I mean seriously, how did I not think of calling a product Great Stuff before they did right? I mean you can't not buy something that is called Great Stuff! How good is this stuff? It's GREAT STUFF! lol.

Anyway, I got a one can for about 5 bucks from Home Depot and it filled all the cracks I had and some were sizable. I even have about a half a can left, but I'm sure it'll be all dried up when I got to use it the next time. It's my own fault because if you clean out the straw and seal the top of the car it'll stay, but I never do. Next time I see a crack I'll go spend $5 and do it again.

So do yourself a favor and the go spend $5 and seal up the cracks in your basement. Just go along the foundation where it meets the house and look for any place where something go through the outside wall. Seal around it. Also look for cracks in the foundation of good size that should be filled as well (not just a hairline crack below ground).