Colder temperatures are setting in and many of us are debating whether or not it’s time to turn the heating on. Nobody likes to feel cold at home, but keeping the warmth inside the house where you want it can be a challenge. With these top tips, keep your home warm and cosy all winter long, and leave the cold outside, with no need to put on even more sweaters.
Draught Proof
Cold air getting in through any small cracks in the house can really bring in the chill. If you have older windows or single-glazing, keep the draught out with a self-adhesive foam tape around the window frame. Check any exterior walls and the skirting boards inside for cracks too, and get them repaired to stop the heat escaping. Outside, you may need to repoint between the bricks to repair any crumbling areas that are letting in the breeze.
Stripped floorboards can also be a culprit of letting in the cold, so fill in any gaps with a silicone-based filler. For a quick fix for a drafty floor, lay down some thick rugs to add some cosiness.
Fit draught-proofing strips around any doors to outside, and to the loft hatch too. If the front door is still letting in cold, you hang a heavy curtain over it to block cold air even more. Thermal lined curtains work well on windows too, to help you keep the temperature up inside the house.
Even the letterbox should have some draught exclusion, like some bristles in the gap or a second flap on the inside of the front door. Cover the keyhole with a metal disc that can be slid aside, to stop cold air whistling in through this tiny gap.
Get A Chimney Balloon
If you’ve bought double-glazing, insulated the attic and spent a fortune on an efficient boiler, don’t waste your effort by losing all that heat straight up the chimney. A chimney balloon blocks the space when you’re not using it, keeping the warm in and the cold out. If you never use the fireplace, consider having the chimney blocked off entirely to keep the cold out all the time.
Insulate The Attic
Insulation in the attic keeps a huge amount of heat inside the house, and can help you slash your heating bill too. Some areas offer grants for fitting loft insulation, so check to see if this is something you could claim to help with the cost.
Use Affordable Fuel
If you need fuel to heat your home, make sure you’re buying it from somewhere affordable. Companies like Quarles Inc. sell propane gas and oil to keep your heating on a no run-out guarantee. You can even pay on a budget payment plan.
Lay Underlay
If you have carpets, lay underlay underneath them before a new carpet is fitted. The underlay creates another barrier between you and the cold floor, as well as blocking any draughts trying to get in from below the house.
Use The Curtains
If you have invested in those thermal lined curtains, use them wisely. During the day, keep the curtains open. Even weak sunshine has some warmth to it, so let the sun in to warm your home through the glass. When the sun goes down, shut the curtains even if the time is still early. This keeps that warmth you’ve worked hard to get into the house to stay there.
Get The Heating On A Schedule
Program your boiler to get the heating on a little earlier in the morning, around half an hour before you get up for work, but at a lower temperature. With time to warm up, it will reach the same temperature but at a cheaper cost than blasting the heating to get the house warm as soon as you get up. Don’t leave the heater on low all day though, as you’ll end up paying for heat when you’re not using it.
Don’t Block The Radiators
For some reason, many of us block the radiators in our home with the sofa. The sofa then ends up absorbing a lot of heat, which should be going into your house. Move the sofa away from the radiator to let the heat radiate freely. Don’t block the heaters with things like curtains or a rack of drying clothes either.
You could also fit radiator reflectors behind the radiators to bounce more heat back into the room. These are a cheap solution and work by reflecting heat back into the room, instead of warming up your walls.
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