Telecommunication articles library
Search:

Home | Z-a Articles | Home And Family


Simple Ways to Keep The Heat In Your Home

By: Stuart Fendor

Many people find cold winters almost unbearable, and if you have a cold house it can be awful and uncomfortable. Many people hate turning up the heat due to increasing energy costs, but it seems the only alternative is to suffer. No so. Your home may be either producing heat inefficiently or it may be allowing heat to escape. Keeping your house toasty and warm may be easier than you think.

If your heat is turned up high, but you always feel chilled anyway, you may have a problem with air leaks that are letting the heat out and the cold in. Check each room of your house; are some rooms colder than others? If you notice that they are, try checking to see if any doors that lead to the outside (as well as the windows in the room) seem to have a draft.

If there are drafts, you can do several things to fix it. Luckily, none of these quick fixes cost very much money. One options is rope caulk. It can be an easy and great way to seal up windows. It's very inexpensive and easy to apply it. If the draft seems to be coming from underneath a door try getting door sweeps or blockers, which are also very inexpensive.

Another inlet for cold air is the chimney. A chimney that is open all winter long allows heat to escape and cold air into the house. If drafts are not caused by doors and windows then the chimney could be the culprit. A precaution to take is to close up the chimney when the fireplace is not in use. This small precaution can make an immediate difference to heat retention.

The sun is a free source of heat energy. With cooking and heating implements in the market that are run on solar power - why should we not use this great source to heat the home. Therefore, if the sun is shining open up curtains to let it in and see the amount of heat that is generated by such a simple thing.

If rising energy costs are a concern but you still want a toasty warm house, consider purchasing a programmable thermostat. These inventions are brilliant. With a simple setting you can automatically program the thermostat to lower the temperature at night when you're in bed with blankets. Then, program it to rise right before you wake up. This way your house is nice and cozy, but you save a lot on your heating bill. The cost of the new thermostat will pay for itself in heat savings.

Heat may also be lost to an unfinished basement. You may wonder how this can be if it's closed off from the rest of the house, but where is your water heater? It may be losing heat before it even gets into the rest of your house. You can purchase inexpensive outer casings to protect heat loss.

Having tried all this, if the house continues to be cold, then it is time to get the insulation checked. An expert can check if the insulation is doing its job. Looking around and shopping for different contractors could get you a good deal that does not cost the roof. Good insulation is instrumental in keeping the house warm and results in reduced heating costs.

The way to beat spiraling energy bills and yet keep the house warm is by taking a few precautionary steps that do not cost a whale lot of money and yet are effective.

Article Source: http://www.article-voip.com

About the author: Stuart Fendor is the chief editor for FL Heat, the best place on the internet when you're after fresh up to date advice and comment to do with Heat. For further information on Heat please visit: www.flheat.com/articles

Please Rate this Article

 

# of Ratings = 3 | Rating = 3.7/5

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Home and Family Articles Via RSS!

Powered by Article Dashboard