I currently live with my parents, who like the thermostat rather cold during the winter (My room is 16C right now), and its not even December yet in NY. What steps can I take to properly insulate my room? My room has 3 windows that used to have argon (A noble gas) that mitigated temperature, but it has long since vanished, although I do have closing shudders in its place, which helps mitigate thermal losses, although, even with the shudders closed, I can still feel cool air around the closed shudders, indicating that this is not as good of a thermal insulator as I would like it to be. I also have a closet, which is normally at the temperature of the rest of the house. This and there is a slit under my door (As there are in most doors), which will allow air from the rest of the house to cool air in my room, although I do have concerns that it also might protect against carbon dioxide buildup from breathing.
There are several relevant factors that should be taken into account:
1) Most of the insulation should be passive (I can't change the thermostat, obviously)
2) I need to insulate against the exterior environment, and the cooler interior environment (Expected interior temperatures of around 16C constantly)
3) I don't have a huge budget, so I can't do large projects (Not would my parents look kindly on that, although I can do things like putting a plastic layer over the windows to try and add a poor thermal conduction layer to slow down heat transfer)
Best Answer
Even many experts underestimate the volume of air exchange through tiny gaps, holes, slits etc. So generally too much unintended air exchange is often the biggest problem. Can be reduced by applying all weather silikon or acryl at the edge where window frame and wall are touching, and between glass and frame. This should be done outside and inside and is not expensive at alI, does not change the building substance. If the window is not airtight between it's moving and still standing frame, also silikon can help, but a sheet of foil (kitchen) must be temporarily inserted in order to avoid sticking/glueing the window frames together until dry. This helps for rotating windows. Cave: the material needs a high temperature to dry out, ca. 15 Celsius or above. The door slit can be closed with old clothes put at the edge every time the door is closed or with a special brush to be glued on the door. Air gaps can be detected with a cigarette or candle on windy days. A cheap heating is a car heating seat cushion (car accessories), heating from legs to the back like in a car, plus a voltage supply of 12V. There are also 230V/120V heating mattress covers for the bed. And a low noise hair dryer next to the bed can warm up the bed in 1 minute or less with very low costs. These 3 electric heating systems are very comfortable, inexpensive and very fast, and save money and energy and the environment. They are scalable, nearly maintenance free and can be transfered to the next appartment with no installation work.