Winter is soon to be upon us. If you are a property owner, or even a renter, there are several winter home weatherization tips that can help save you money on your heating bill and keep your home apartment warmer this winter season. With these simple tips any renter or home owner can prep for the long winter ahead. These tips can make your home feel warmer without turning up the heat during the winter. With these winter home weatherization tips, you will save energy with out the need to spend to much money preparing your home or apartment for cold season. If you are a renter, do make sure you run any of these tips by your landlord. If your land lord agrees, they may hire an expert to do these, or they may even give you a discount on the next months rent for you to do them yourself.
• Caulking your windows and doors
Start with a door sweep, a door sweep will prevent cold air from entering your home from the outside. This is especially true if you can see the outside from underneath your door. A door sweep is also known as a weather strip. Check your windows for any airflow leaks from the outside, if you feel any draft what so ever, caulk your windows. If you are a renter, do by all means ask your landlord before you do any caulking. Caulk cost about 6 dollars for one caulk tube, and requires a caulk gun, which costs about $7.00 on average. Caulking your windows will do 2 different things, one it will prevent cold air from the outside getting inside, and two it will also prevent heat loss. Heat loss is responsible for higher heat costs.
• Plastic over your windows
If you have large or drafty windows, consider purchasing clear plastic film window weatherstrips. This plastic if cared for well can be used year after year to give you an added layer of insulation to your windows. A 62-in x 17.5-ft Clear Plastic Film Window Weatherstrip costs as low as $8.00. This simple trick will improve the insulating R-value up to 90% on your windows, and reduces cold air drafts. Installation is rather simple with tape and hair dryer. The best brand of window plastic is by 3M, it is much more insulating than the other brands out there, giving you more bang for your buck. Of all these tips, insulating your windows is an easy and fairly inexpensive way to cut your heating bill.
• Invest in drapes for the winter.
Drapes if installed right will give you another layer of protection over your windows, and save you much more money on your heating bill, as well as prevent heat loss. You must be careful with drapes however, because if you put them up wrong it can actually lead to more heat loss instead of preventing heat loss. This is because any spaces or gaps at the top of the drapes, sides, and bottom can easily create a tunnel effect. This can cause not only heat loss but also condensation that can lead to mold. One tip to correctly installing your drapes is to hang them as close to the window as possible. Also allow the drapes to touch either the floor or at the very least the window sill. Open up your drapes that face the south and the west every day to make ample use of solar heat, and close them at night.
• Heat your home evenly
Your home or apartment has complex air flows and heating patterns. To optimize the heating of your home, do not shut off any heating vents, even in areas of the home you may rarely use. The reason is that if you have to many pockets of cold air in your home, the cold air will merge into the hot air and lead to heat loss in some areas of the home.
• Do not turn off the thermostat down.
Rather than turning your thermostat off when you are at work or away from the home, turn your thermostat down. Turning your hear on and off to much will actualy cause excessive energy useage. If you are a home owner, consider adding a programmable thermostat to your home. A programmable thermostat will dial the heat down during working hours and slowly rise the rise a few hours before you are due to return home, where you are greated with an already warm home.
• Make sure all air registers are completely free of obstruction.
Make sure all vents are open and that no vents are obstructed by furniture. Failing to do so can cause some rooms of your home to not heat properly, leading to over stress on your homes heating system and potential heat loss in your home.
• Schedule a home energy check-up
These experts are well versed on winter weatherization and energy efficiency. Some states and have state run grant programs to weatherize homes, and there is also several federal programs that provide grants or low interest loans to make your home more energy efficient. Your local professional can inform you of any and all options you have available.
