Beating the Freeze: Keep Your Home Warmer in Cold Weather

Can homeowners do anything to their houses to prepare for future winter storms – perhaps even for the remainder of this winter? Try some of these tips.

Close those gaps

A massive 30% of your home’s precious heat energy can be sapped away by cracks in your walls, windows, and doors. You should make it a priority to effectively close these gaps. Walk around your home on a cold day and pay particular attention to any noticeable drafts. You often find them where different walls meet, such as the corners of the house, or where the chimney stack sits. Weather stripping can be a pretty good material for solving these issues, whilst a draft blocker can be purchased and placed at the bottom of any problematic doors.

Reverse air fans

Fans, the very items that keep us cool in the warm weather, can also keep us warmer when it’s cold. Because of the way a fan’s rotor blades are shaped, a fan run in reverse will essentially distribute any of the warmer air sitting near the ceiling downward into the room while pulling colder air up and away from you. Not only does this make your home warmer, but it also can save you money on your heating bills.

Install new windows

There are so many benefits to getting higher-quality windows installed throughout your home. For example, this double-glazing fitters in West Sussex, UK, claims that an average-sized family home could save around £135 ($225 approximately), and reduce carbon emissions by 680 kg (1,500 pounds approximately) just by replacing their old, single-glazed windows with windows with two panes of glass. Not only is this an excellent reduction in your bills, but it also helps to keep out the noise of your neighborhood and increase your home’s security!

Look at your heating system

Although new heating systems can be pretty expensive, getting a newer and more efficient heating system can help you to recoup this expenditure through achieving greater levels of performance (around 15% – 20% for an Energy Star-certified model). You may even be able to receive governmental help to cover some of the costs. If you don’t think your furnace needs to be replaced  just yet, you can always look to “tune up” your existing one by cleaning it out and keeping it well oiled.

Look into loft insulation

Much of the heat produced by the home is in fact lost through the attic, so getting some suitable loft insulation should be made another priority in order to improve the home’s energy efficiency and keep in the heat. After paying the cost of installing loft insulation professionally (£300 or $500 approximately), you should start to see money being paid back to you in the form of savings within 2 years – possibly even more if there is a winter like there was this year!