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Home Improvements & Tips to Curb the Cold
After enjoying a prolonged summer, it felt like fall would never arrive. However Midwesterners are feeling the chill now and with it comes the disquieting thought; winter is just around the corner. To avoid the shivers in the coming months, CBH has some helpful hints for you to stay warm.
1. Rearrange
Simply moving things around can help a lot. Take stock of where your furniture is. For instance, do you have a chair by a window? Well then you have a seat next to a draft. Who wants that? Keep popular and well used furniture near interior walls and make sure they’re not blocking the path of any heater or radiators from spreading throughout the rooms.
2. Utilize the Drapes
Let the sunshine in! On bright sunny days, leave the curtains open and let the rays warm you. The opposite is true at night. Once the sun has gone down for the day, the heat will escape the same way it came in; through the windows. Consider getting heavy thermal curtains to further trap the heat inside.
3. Rugs
If you have hardwood floors in your home, you might want to get a large area rug. These can not only style a room but it also keeps your feet toasty by acting as insulation between you and the floor.
4. Look for Drafts
Try to keep out mini-drafts. Such as making sure mail slots and doggie doors are closed whenever possible. You can lose a lot of heat from a small area. Also plug any gaps underneath the doors. Rubber slats can be purchased to do this or you can even get creative and make your own DIY door stop. If you have a fireplace you’ll want to keep it covered when not in use, otherwise heat is just escaping out your chimney.
5. Shut the Door
Close the door on any unused rooms so heat doesn’t spread to empty areas. Also you won’t waste any money on a room you don’t use often, which can add up with larger homes.
6. Filters
An easy fix and a usual culprit of drafty rooms; air filters. Check the filters and see if they are dirty and replace if needed.
7. Insulation
Probably the most effective solution is to insulate. Think about it, when you’re cold you put on more layers to warm up, well the house works the same. Make sure the home is well insulated as its estimated roughly 35% of heat is lost through the walls & 25% through the roof (1). If snow is melting on a certain portion of your roof, that’s the heat escaping and a good indicator that insulation is needed.
While the weather outside is frightful, your home can still be delightful this season. Just make sure you’re paying attention to any drafty areas and don’t let winter defeat you.
