The cold winds are starting to blow in from the north, so it wont be long before Jack Frost is nipping not only at our noses, but at our homes too. Here’s some tips to help you start winterizing your home so you aren’t sent to the poor house before winter is over.
Check your windows for gaps, air leaks, and snugness.
If cold air seeps in through your windows then your heating is going out and you’re actually losing money. So seal up those gaps and find those air leaks. Try spraying insulation foam in those areas you can.
Next, secure all those pipes which get exposure to the cold air. Usually these are outside pipes or those closest to the outside walls in your home. Wrapping any pipe whether inside or out, which gets the cold air of winter will be a wise choice. Hardware stores carry many items you can use in wrapping home pipes. One of the best is those insulted foam wraps. These can be cut to fit the exact amount of pipe you want to cover.
If you don’t want to spend money to invest in foam wraps, then old dish rags or towels can be just as effective in keeping those pipes warm. Of course this wouldn’t work on outside areas where wet and yucky weather could soak the rags or towels. You could however wrap the the pipes with the rags or towels and then surround them with plastic bags. This should make them secure from the wet weather.
Those walls exposed to the direct coldness really take a beating so focus on those pipes, especially the north walls and water lines in these areas. You’ll save thousands of dollars securing your water pipes, laundry pipes, bathroom pipes and those kitchen pipes. If any of these should freeze up in the winter, the potential for a lot of water damage is extreme.
Add weather stripping to your doors.
If you have areas above the doors and below the doors that allow a lot of air in and out, you’ll need to weather strip them so that your warm air stays inside and the cold stays outside. This doesn’t take tons of money to do either, but it will save you lots of dollars if you make the effort to
winterize your doors.
Set your thermostat to a cooler but reasonable temperature in your home.
The cooler you can keep it, (without putting your family in too much discomfort) the better off your energy bill will be. You can use other cost effective heating sources to help stave off the nip of cold air. Wood burners, oil burners and such could be another source to add to heating your home which won’t add to your energy cost.
Though these tips might seem ridiculous right now, the sooner you prepare for winter, the better off you’ll be. It’s never to early to start preparing for ways to save money in the seasons we face them in. Don’t put yourself in a financial poor house because you didn’t winterize your home.