When winter closes in, it can be difficult to stay warm. People aren’t really meant to survive any extreme temperatures and that means you need to keep your home at the right temperature that is comfortable for people. But it can be expensive to keep that heater running all through the season.
Here are some tips to ensure that your home stays warm for most of the season:
Use Solar Heat
Despite it being winter, the sun will still come out most of the time. That means unless it is really cloudy, sunlight will be there to heat up your home. Take advantage of that by leaving the curtains open. Even when you are not home, there is a lot of free heat coming in to warm your home up naturally. When the sun goes down, close those curtains. Use insulated drapes so that the heat inside your house doesn’t escape easily.
Leave Your Vents Clear
If your home has a central heater, then it circulates warm air all throughout. You’ll need to ensure that this is not impeded in any way. That means before winter comes, you should clean the ducts and the vents of any dirt or blockages. Move all the furniture around your vents away. This ensures that the warm air travels beyond the closest big piece of furniture.
Maximize Insulation
Many insulation contractors in Kansas City and other locations would be pleased to help you with insulating your home. You can actually insulate every part of your home starting from the roof. The great thing about insulation is that it works for hot and cold temperatures.
Take note of these specific areas: the attic, windows, and the pipes. These are among the biggest places of heat loss in your home. Hot air goes up, so insulating attic reduces heat loss. Insulated windows work great to keep heat in when the sun goes down, and finally, insulated pipes can prevent drafts from happening.
You can even insulate your floors. It can add 10 percent heat retention and you’ll need it during the coldest nights.
Close Doors
If you’ve insulated your doors, too, then there’s another simple hack to keeping warm: just always shut the door. Open doors allow the warmth to leave the room. Just close the doors and let the heat build up in each space. This allows for better heating in the long run.
Have Your Heater Tuned Up
Many heaters are not as efficient as they could be. That is why you’ll want a local HVAC specialist to drop by and do some tune-ups to your heater before winter. Better performance ensures that you’re not wasting any heat and energy. You can also ask them to install a programmable thermostat so that you can time when you want the heat to come and go.
The winter months can be terrible when it comes to keeping your home and your body warm. With the tips above, you should be able to keep yourself and your family comfortable without spending too much on your heating bill.