With the onset of winter thoughts are turning to how to keep heat in houses. In the current climate this is even more important as we will all be spending much more time at home than we would otherwise. This is also a key time to be ensuring finances are in as good shape as possible and that includes not paying any more for heating than you must. While there is no substitute for a professional evaluation such as by the team at PipeLagging.com , there are still some things that you can do yourself around the house to make it more heat efficient this winter.
One of the biggest areas of heat loss in a house is draughts. These can occur in several places in the home. One of the easiest to fix are under door draughts. A simple draught excluder at the bottom of a door can either be bought or made from, for example, tights stuffed with socks or rolled up old towels. Windows are another source of draughts. These can be resolved with self-adhesive foam tape or dedicated foam draught excluder. Remember to also check any cracks between window frames and the surrounding walls which can be filled with putty or sealant to keep the heat in and cold out. Do be aware of the smaller sources of draughts such as cat flaps.
A fireplace is great if it is in use but often can be a problem in winter with warm air rushing out the chimney and cold air billowing down and into your room. The fix for this is to get hold of a chimney balloon which, when inflated, blocks the movement of air through the chimney. Naturally if you are going to use the fire you must remove the balloon.
Thermal curtains in front of windows can also greatly reduce heat loss. Even if you cannot get hold of thermal curtains any heavy curtain material in front of your windows will be an aid to insulating your home overall.
The floor is one aspect that is often overlooked. It was estimated by the National Energy Foundation that as much as 10% of heat loss can be through the floors. If you have bare floorboards thick rugs or blankets can mitigate this. If you have cracks between the floorboards filling them with some form of sealant is a help.
Surprisingly, you can do things yourself to help your radiators help keep the heat in the room. The first thing you can do is get hold of some radiator backing foil, although good household foil can be used in a pinch it is just less efficient. Put this foil behind your radiators, especially the ones attached to external walls. This will reflect the heat back into the room where it is needed and avoid some of the loss to the outside atmosphere. Place floating shelves above radiators, not too close and do not place items on them affected by heat. These shelves can help channel the warmth to where it is needed.
Finally, though you should still seek professional guidance and be aware of the need to wear protective equipment you can buy rolls of loft insulation to lay yourself if none is present in your home. Make sure the loft hatch has a good, solid, and insulated seal as well.
While to truly get your home up to the best insulation level it can be you will need to engage professional services as you can see there are still lots of little things you can do yourself to keep your home warmer and save on heating bills.
