One of the coldest winters on record is here, which means heating bills could skyrocket.
The Family Handyman has tips to keep safe and warm without breaking the bank.
Here are a few ways to keep warm and still conserve energy this winter:
• Stop fireplace heat loss: Wood-burning fireplaces can warm up a room, but more often, they rob a house
of heat by letting it escape up the chimney. If you have a modern fireplace with a cold air intake from
outside, make sure you equip it with an airtight door. If you have an older fireplace that uses room air
for combustion, equip it with a door that has operable vents. Only keep those vents open when there is a
fire in the fireplace. Otherwise, heat will constantly be sucked out of the house.
• Install quilted curtains to block draft: If you’re turning up the heat in the house to compensate for
drafty windows, consider quilted curtains, which can increase comfort and let you keep the temp down.
The curtains are available in various colors, patterns and sizes.
• Turn down the heat and still be comfortable: We all know the mantra by now- turn down the thermostat
during the winter months and you’ll save money. And it’s true. But turning down the heat has a big
drawback-you have to wear extra clothes to stay warm. The solution? Use a space heater to stay
comfortable in the room where family members gather, like the living room. The heaters work best in
walled-in rooms, where the heat can be contained.
• Make windows work: Keep the blinds or drapes on windows with direct sun exposure (usually on the south
side of the house) open to let sunlight heat the room. Heating doesn’t get any cheaper than this. At
night, close the blinds or drapes to cover the cold glass.
• Cut heat loss with storm windows: Storm windows aren’t new, but they’re improved: New ones open and
close and can be left on year-round. Some offer low-emissivity coatings to further cut heat loss. You
can use low-e versions even if your windows already have a low-e coating. If you have single-pane
windows, installing storm windows is one of the most cost-effective improvements you can make to reduce
heat loss.
• Seal basement air leaks: Sill plates and rim joists are usually poorly insulated (if at all) and very
leaky. So if you have an unfinished basement, grab some silicone or acrylic latex caulk to seal the sill
plate. If you simply have fiberglass insulation stuffed against the rim joist, pull it out. Run a bead
of caulk between the edge of the sill plate and the top of the foundation wall. Use expanding spray foam
anywhere there are gaps larger than 1?4 inch between the sill and the foundation. For hollow-block
foundations, stuff fiberglass insulation in the holes, then seal it with expanding foam.
• Use an infrared thermometer to find drafts: If your home is drafty, check it with a thermal leak
detector or infrared thermometer. The battery-operated hand-held tool uses infrared sensors to identify
spots that are warmer or colder than the surrounding area, signifying an air leak or poor insulation. Of
course, you have to do some detective work to figure out the problem and how to fix it. The detectors
are available at some home centers and online.
• Add attic insulation: In most homes, adding insulation in the attic will cut heat loss. At a minimum,
homes should have attic insulation between R-22 and R-49 (6 to 13 in. of loose fill or 7 to 19 in. of
fiberglass batts). Stick your head through the attic access door and measure how much insulation you
have. If your insulation is at or below the minimum, adding some will lower your heating bills.
• Get an energy audit: A surefire way to find air leaks and identify insulation problems is to have an
audit. The audit, which takes two to three hours, uses a blower door test and an infrared camera to
pinpoint leaks and identifies ways to improve energy efficiency.