With colder temperatures quickly approaching and threatening to make our homes more chilly we cannot help but think about how to keep our house warm. Any time we enter into a season of extreme temperature it means increased energy bills. We all dread the increase of our heating bills as temperatures drop outside.
One of the main culprits of letting the cold you’re your home are your door and window frames. But those are certainly not the only sources of cold air entering your home. But don’t panic, there are some great solutions to prepare your home for the coming winter months that will help keep energy bills low and, most importantly, keep you and your family warm.
Depending on the age of your home there can be a lot of areas where cold air can quietly and unassumingly creep into our home without us noticing. One major area, particularly in older homes, is through and around windows. A great option for keeping your home warmer to consider is to replace single pain windows with energy efficient windows. By replacing windows with more energy efficient ones you can noticably reduce your heating bill.
You can also get a window insulating kit. These insulating kits keep warm air where you want it, in your home, and they make sure the cold air stays out. According to one manufacturer of window insulating kits, 3M, “A home with 10 windows in Green Bay, WI, could have an average annual savings of $270 by using window insulator kits.” That is a huge savings for any family, especially during the holiday season! You should also go around your home to find any gaps around window frames and use caulk or wood filler to fill any of the gaps. You can also add weather stripping around any windows to help keep the cold air out. One other option many don’t consider, because it is just so simple, is to add curtains to a window. If you add curtains, particularly thermal curtains, it’s a stylish way that you can keep your home warmer (and cooler during the summer!) and will help you resist the temptation to turn the heat up.
The next place to check for being a cold air culprit is around your doors. One great solution for keeping the cold air out around your doors is a door sweep. Door sweeps are actually great for any season. During the winter they keep cold air out and during the summer they keep warm air out, making them a great investment! They also block out dusts and are an energy efficient way to help create utility bill savings. Just like windows, you can also weather add weather stripping around doors to help keep the cold air out.
Lastly, there are some small areas many people don’t think of as a problem for letting cold air in. Things like cracks in the foundation, leaky pipes, gaps around electrical outlets and gaps around switch boxes. These tiny little gaps can actually cause big problems with how your home efficiently heats itself. If your home is not efficiently heating itself you will drive up your heating bills. They may be small things, but they actually have big impact! Go around and inspect these areas and make sure to fill in any gaps. Many of these solutions may seem simple or obvious but if you don’t check them before each big cool down you could wind up paying a lot more in your heating bills!