Three Ways To Winterize Your Home
As the climate changes from warm weather to cold weather, your home can have a hard time adjusting. By neglecting your home during the transitioning of the climate, you could end up spending much more money on energy bills and repair bills. To help avoid the added costs and to ensure that everything in your home is working properly, you have to be willing to winterize your home. Regardless of how old your home is, every home requires certain tweaks to make it more efficient in the winter. Here are some tips for winterizing your home.
Seal Off Your Windows
If you have a single pane window, then you may notice some moisture accumulating on it when the inside air is warmer than the outside air. This can turn your windows into a dehumidifier. To help keep the warm air in and the cold air out, you want to apply an additional layer between the window and the air. A layer of film, an interior storm window, or bubble wrap can be used to help seal in the air. You can also use caulk to help seal in the gaps around the window sills to help fill in any holes.
Tune-up Your Furnace
Americans are expected to pay about 15% more in heating costs than the previous year. One of the first things you want to do before you turn on your heat for the winter is to check out your furnace. Make sure there is a new filter in place so it can catch all the toxins and debris before circulating through your home. Experts recommend changing your filter every 4 to 6 weeks to ensure your furnace works properly. A dirty filter will restrict the flow of air and cause your furnace to work harder than it should. To help trap more debris, you could use an electrostatic filter.
Switch to a Smart Thermostat
If most of your family is not at home during the day, then there is no reason to continue heating it. Before you start utilizing your heating, you want to make sure you are using it efficiently. This can be done by switching to a smart thermostat. A programmable thermostat can run you about $100 to $400 depending on the model. You can set the program and thermostat to change the temperature at a set time instead of running consistently. Nowadays, you can even control the thermostat using your smartphone, making it easier to control the climate in your home regardless if you are home or not.
For more information and assistance with maintenance, contact professional furnace maintenance companies near you.