How To Keep Your Home Warmer

This Winter I think most of us are looking at ways to keep the house warmer and to keep our energy costs down. We don’t really know what is to come with the energy prices, but just as the cold weather is kicking in you might want to take a look at some tips to save energy and how to keep your home warmer.

Sealing Up Gaps and Draughts

The one thing that makes me feel cold is sitting near a draught, it could be a low draught from under a door that makes my feet stone cold, or near a window. Look at where your draughts are coming from and see if you can block them up, even if it’s temporally. Adding a draught excluder at the bottom of the door, and thermal curtains in front of the doors will give you a good start.

Take a look around the house for gaps, they could be letting in a draught that it doesn’t need to, check the window frame as a little draught might be coming through these. These are easy to seal up with some window sealant around the edges to keep the cold air out and warm air in. Looking all around the house for gaps in the flooring, walls and gaps where pipes are going through the walls, these can all be sealed up to prevent air leaks. We have installed draught double-sided tape around door frames and loft hatches to make a better seal. It is so cold in the loft space, so sealing that up nicely stops all the warm air rises up and through the loft hatch, and stops the cold air from seeping through. You can do this around the door frame as well.

What you need to make sure though that you don’t seal up every single gap in the house, you must leave a little for ventilation. All our new double-glazing windows have a window air vent on them so the house doesn’t get completely sealed up, this is a good way to get home ventilation and stop the build-up of condensation and mould.

Window Dressings 

Window dressings are something that gets often overlooked when it comes to energy consumption, they are one of the biggest ways to keep your home warmer and improve energy efficiency. You lose so much heat out of your windows, so adding a block in front of them stops the warm air from escaping out the windows. You could add window film to the windows for the cold months which is good if you have single-glazed windows, as this adds another layer. If you have curtains at your windows, close them from around 3pm when the temperature drops during the winter months, this reduces heat loss and the hot air you’ve generated in the day within the home.

Photo credit California Shutters

More tips to save energy is looking into adding DIY shutters to your windows, as this is a great way to stop the draughts from escaping and keep warmth in, this improves heat retention. Don’t be worried about going down the route of DIY shutters over full-service shutter installations, you can get the luxury appearance at a lower cost than fitted shutters. California Shutters offer plenty of easy-to-follow guides and videos to guide homeowners through every step, including measuring up windows, ordering bespoke shutters and tips on installing them themselves. 

You can pick from a choice of quality materials that are suitable for whichever room you want, even a material that is suitable for the bathroom. They come in a range of sizing, colours and shapes so you can make them look perfect for your home and own style. The shutters are made to measure so will fit perfectly in your space, getting rid of drafty windows and creating a beautiful-looking living space. 

Change Up Your Living Space

You want a warm room, so make sure your radiators are clear of furniture, this lets as much heat out as possible into the room and not hitting the back of sofas and the heat being absorbed into them. Move furniture around away from draughts, so you don’t feel them whilst you’re trying to chill out in the evenings, adding a door snake to your door when it’s cold will stop the draught coming into the room. Move furniture nearer the radiators but not blocking, and add rugs to the room to keep the floor soft under your toes.

Keep Your Boiler Serviced

Boilers should be serviced every year, so keep on top of them. Running your boiler when it works correctly will allow your central heating system to produce heat much better, and also you can make sure it’s running safely and with no risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, and heating up to the correct temperatures. They will also go around making sure all your radiators have been bled and putting out the right amount of heat for your room. Checking the thermostat is set correctly for each room, and even install a smart thermostat for you to keep your house running at a nice temperature no matter what time of the day. Having a programmable thermostat allows you to set the times you want your heating to come on and off, or even detect when you’re not at home.

Get Layering Up

I don’t just mean clothing, think about laying up your window dressings, layering up floors with rugs, adding underlay to carpets when installed and adding lots of throws to your bedding and sofas. This will dramatically reduce your heating bill as you won’t be tempted to turn the heating up to warm up your home, as your all cosy underneath a blanket. I even have a small electric blanket which I love as it’s so cosy and you can’t beat getting into a warm bed, I think this is a really good idea and creates a warm home for you during the colder months.

You can also think about layering up your insulation, adding cavity wall insulation and loft insulation which you can pick up easily from home improvement stores, if you live in an older home you will find that the layer of insulation wasn’t as good as it is now then it was built, and you may need to add it yourself. This is a big way to reduce your utility bills and in the long run, will save you from much higher energy bills.

Close Off Rooms

You may have rooms in your house that you don’t need to heat too much, so close those off, keeping the radiator on a small amount, you can close off that room with the door shut stopping a lot of heat from escaping into the unused room. Also shutting doors when you’re in the room will surprise you with how quickly that single room heats up.

Of course, on cold nights you can take a hot water bottle to bed, add plenty of layers of clothing, pop the tv on or read a book and your feel super cosy. You won’t need to heat the entire house and then make plenty of energy savings.