6 Best Tips for Keeping your Home Warm this Winter
As we move into the colder winter months, you will be looking for any ways that you can keep your home as warm as possible. After all, heating your home can account for as much as 70 percent of your household energy consumption. In this article, I’ll be talking you through a few home hacks that you can use to keep your house warmer during the colder months.
1. Use Your Curtains
Your curtains aren’t only there to keep out the eyes of prying neighbours! Heat from the sun is free so you need to invite as much of this into your home as possible. Keep your curtains wide open to let sunlight in during the day, but when it gets dark again, shutting them again acts like an extra layer of insulation for you. Make sure to tackle any leaks or gaps as soon as possible to help to reduce condensation.
2. Move Your Sofa
Even though it may feel nice to have your sofa situated right in front of the radiator, this is not the optimum way to heat up your rooms. It will be absorbing heat that could be enjoyed in the rest of your house. This rule also goes for your curtains or drying clothes.
3. Ramp Up Your Insulation
If you are losing a lot of heat through the windows, now may be the time to change them. Check out double glazing, and all the other options which may be available to you. A lot of heat is lost through the roof, but installing just 25cm of insulation can make all the difference. Cavity wall insulation can also be very effective, though it is not as cheap to install.
4. Block Out Draughts
A simple solution that can help to block out gaps and cracks is a draught excluder. You can even make your own DIY version to save yourself even more cash. Self-adhesive rubber seals are a cheap and quick way to get doors and windows sealed up.
5. Upgrade Your Boiler
If you have a boiler which is more than a decade old, it may well be time to go for an upgrade. Even though this represents an initial cost with the boiler installation, you are likely to save significantly on your annual heating bills. As well as this, newer boilers are less likely to break down so you won’t end up with expensive repairs in the icy depths of winter. If you are unlucky enough for your boiler to go wrong, you should try to deal with any maintenance issues as soon as you can.
6. Reflect the Heat
A quick DIY solution to give yourself a little more heat in your home is to install some radiator panels which will warm your room rather than your walls. These work by reflecting the heat back into the room again, so try putting some into your home to see what a difference they could make.
The best way that you can keep your home warm is to use a combination of these different techniques, so try them all as soon as you can.
