Winter is now well and truly upon us in much of the northern hemisphere. As the nights grow darker earlier and the air becomes frosty, it’s time to start thinking of ways to prepare your home for the winter months. Whether you are looking for simple ways to warm up your home or you are looking for longer-term home improvements to do the trick, here are a few ideas to help you on your way:
Curtains
Believe it or not, a thick set of curtains is one of the easiest ways to trap warmth inside your home and improve energy efficiency. Essentially, they are another barrier for heat to travel through. During the day, when the curtains are open, you allow heat into the room, and closing them once it gets dark outside traps that heat. The more you are able to utilize the free heat from the sun, the less you’ll need to turn on the heat in your home. Curtains are not only a great way to regulate the temperature indoors, but provide an excellent opportunity to change the look of a room and make it cozier.
Move Your Furniture Around
Keeping furniture close to a heating system prevents heat from circulating properly around the room. If you have a fireplace, it can also potentially damage certain pieces due to the high heat levels. Try shifting furniture around, moving anything that is standing too close to a heat source. Removing such obstructions will help circulate warm air more effectively.
Insulation
As hot air rises, a home often loses up to 25% of its heat through the roof, so upgrading your loft insulation can make a huge difference. Insulating your roof won’t necessarily come cheap, but if done by a reputable contractor, the work should last for up to 40 years, which makes for an excellent return on investment when you consider the potential saving you’ll be making on your heating bills.
Double or Triple Glazing
A major reason a building loses energy is through its glass surfaces. In older homes especially, the use of single-glazed glass windows is fairly common and largely inefficient when it comes to the loss of natural heat. Double or triple glazing the windows will make a massive difference in terms of warming up the home. You’ll find some great options for double pane glass MA, and introducing this feature will offer a huge saving in the long term.
Upgrading Your Boiler
If you’ve currently got a boiler that is over ten years old, it might be time to replace your boiler with a more energy-efficient model, ideally something that is A-rated. A condensing boiler recovers a lot more heat than older models, for instance. Furthermore, the new boilers are less likely to struggle come the winter months.
Taking steps to keep your home warm this winter, be it a large investment or something more simple, will be beneficial in terms of saving you money on your energy bill. Furthermore, these measures will also make your home a more pleasant place to hunker down during those icy cold winter days. Invest some quality time, effort, and cash into controlling your home’s temperature this winter. These are home improvements you certainly won’t regret.
