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9 Tips on How to Better Insulate Your Home in Winter

9 Tips On How To Better Insulate Your Home In Winter

There’s nothing better than being rugged up during winter and feeling safe and comfortable inside our homes while conditions are freezing outside.

Traditionally, we’d opt for turning up the heat and letting these systems do their work, but the more we learn about their energy-draining potentials, the less appealing this option is.

The modern and green home must look for other ways to keep warm and cozy without relying on these older methods.

Thankfully, there are some great ways you can insulate your home to reduce your reliance on artificial heating systems, and they can be just as effective without being detrimental to the planet.

What are some winter home insulation tips that really work?

To make the temperature more comfortable inside, you can look at sealing up doorways, choosing thicker window treatments, maintaining your existing HVAC systems, and adding extra insulation to areas like attics.

The cost of utilizing at least one of these methods is significantly less than running a heater, and a whole lot better for the planet as well.

The average American household spends a fortune on their heating and cooling expenses, but with some clever insulation techniques, this can be turned around. With our help, you’ll be able to try some simple methods for keeping your house cozy in winter and be doing a huge service to the planet as well.

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9 Winter Home Insulation Tips

When temperatures drop in winter, there’s no need to turn up the thermostat just to get relief.

Insulation can have a huge effect on the temperatures inside our home, and with some of these tips, they’ll reduce your reliance on energy churning heating systems.

#1 Use Energy Management Systems

USE ENERGY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

To get a good idea of where you need to insulate in the house and how much of it you require, consider investing in an energy management system. These can help you figure out where you need to devote your attention, like the rooms of the house that get the most action.

When you’re trying to save money, extra insulation methods can be applied just in those busy areas. There’s no need to set the heat to the same temperature throughout the whole house, and an energy management system can help you determine where is best.

#2 Eco-Friendly Insulation Materials

If you do decide to beef up the R-value of your home and get some more insulation, opt for sustainable and earth-friendly materials instead. The market for these is booming, and it seems more and more raw materials are proving efficient in the fight for consistent temperatures.

Some of the more exciting materials used for green insulation include sheep’s wool, recycled denim, Aerogel, Thermacork, and cellulose, which is made of recycled newspaper and paper. Although slightly more expensive, they offer good insulation with peace of mind attached.

#3 Natural Lighting

NATURAL LIGHTING

The sun is responsible for providing heat and light, but most people fail to remember this when they’re in the throes of winter.

You might want to shut all the curtains to block out the icy views outside, but if you invite the natural light in, it can do a good job getting through and heating the house.

Some areas of the house are better at capturing light, so make a note of where the sun is positioned at various times of the day, and try to use it to your advantage. If possible, move where the sun goes, and utilize the free heating that comes from this natural resource.

#4 Look at Window Treatments

LOOK AT WINDOW TREATMENTS

Another good tip to do with your windows is to consider upgrading to something more winter-friendly when temperatures drop. Although sheer curtains might suit your home’s décor, they don’t do a lot to retain heat and should be kept instead for the warmer months.

Instead, look at investing in a pair of heavier curtains that you can pull across at night time, to keep the warmth in the house. Otherwise, cellular shades are efficient at doing this as well and allow the light to stay in during the day.

#5 Doors and Windows

One of the biggest culprits of escaping heat and entering cold is the small cracks and spaces of our doors and windows. When winter rolls around, it’s a good time to inspect all of the doors and windows in your house and then apply the necessary insulation.

To improve the R-rating on your doors, you can easily apply plastic sheeting that covers any gaps and glaze the necessary window panes. If you note any damage in the glass or surrounding structure, have it fixed immediately to prevent drafts from getting in.

#6 Check Your Roof

CHECK YOUR ROOF

The roof is the area where most of the warm air escapes from in a home, and during winter, you want to do everything you can to keep it inside. To figure out what your roof’s insulation looks like, spend some time up there taking a look around and assess whether or not it needs an upgrade.

Roof insulation can be retrofitted and, in some cases, it might be as easy as a DIY job.

According to the energy experts, an estimated 35 percent of warmth comes out of the roof of a home, so this is the most crucial part of the house to target. By trapping this inside, you’ll rely less on heating, and will save a whole lot of energy waste.

#7 Listen Up

Rather than hiring a costly contractor to come and check your home, you can do a bit of detective work yourself to figure out where the air is escaping.

Minor cracks like this, no matter how minor, can not only let warm air out but create cool drafts in the house and increase your need for heating units.

To figure out where air might be escaping at your house, go to each room and listen carefully. If you hear any whistling sounds, there’s a good chance this means a crack, and it should be filled up immediately with some simple DIY knowhow and silicone seal.

#8 Insulate the Attic

INSULATE THE ATTIC

Some people neglect their attic when it comes to insulation because they don’t think it can have a great effect on their home’s temperatures.

However, if you have some spare money, it’s a simple DIY project that can end up saving a lot of money and preventing cold air from getting down to the lower levels of the home during winter and warm air from going up.

Using sheets of unbacked insulation, you can place them in between the floor joists in the attic. This will ensure the heat stays inside the house and doesn’t float up towards the attic, so you have to rely less on your heating systems.

#9 Bubble Wrap

BUBBLE WRAP

It might sound like a strange solution but bubble wrap has been shown to have fantastic insulating properties.

If you’re looking for a quick fix and don’t have a lot to spend having your windows treated by an expert, you can apply a layer of bubble wrap to them. This will reduce the amount of heat escaping in the same way a professional glaze treatment does.

Related Questions

Insulation is just one way we can reduce our reliance on energy-chugging heating and cooling systems, and make for a more sustainable way of living.

If you want to reduce your carbon footprint starting at home, check out some commonly asked questions about how to do just that and our expert answers.

How Can You Increase Energy Efficiency of HVAC Systems?

If you don’t want to go without heating and cooling at home, you can reduce the amount of energy they use by increasing insulation at home, and also keeping an eye on its temperature setting.

Set your thermostat as close as possible to the temperature outside to reduce its energy expenditure, and you’ll still be able to maintain a comfortable level inside.

What is the Most Eco-Friendly HVAC Option?

To swap your existing HVAC setup to a more eco-friendly one, there are a few good options.

Geothermal heat pumps, thermally driven air conditioning, energy management systems, and dual fuel heat pumps are all emerging green technologies helping people cut down on their HVAC related energy consumption.

Are New HVAC Systems More Efficient?

Older models of air conditioners and heaters don’t operate as efficiently as their newer counterparts. If you want to reduce your energy costs, choosing an HVAC unit that’s built with energy efficiency in mind can save a lot each year.

You can save up to 40 percent of your cooling costs by replacing a 10-year-old air conditioning unit with a newer model, which is quite significant.

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