Five Tips to Reduce Cold Winter Drafts

When the cold days of winter arrive, you want to make sure you are heating your home as efficiently as possible. However, when you feel cold winter drafts wafting into your living room, you know energy is being wasted. Never mind the fact that you want to be warm. Here are five tips to reduce those cold winter drafts.

Make Sure All Doorways Are Properly Sealed. When doorways are not properly sealed, outside air is flowing into your home. This prevents your thermostat from reaching the desired temperature and holding it. In short, you are looking at an incredibly large utility bill. You can add insulating tape around the doorways, and seals are available that you can put at the bottom of your doors to be sure air is not getting into the house.

Make Sure All Windows Are Properly Sealed. Because homes have so many windows, often some of them have drafts. Re-caulking the areas around your windows can have a drastic effect in reducing cold winter drafts throughout your home. Even a beginner can do this easy project.

Insulate Your Attic Sufficiently. Without proper insulation, your attic can let lots of cold air into your home. Adding new insulation often really helps with drafts and energy costs as well. Sometimes you will want to hire a professional to do the job, since there are specific ratios of insulation per square footage. However, the money it saves you over time is definitely worth the cost.

Close The Fireplace Flue When You are Not Using It. While your fireplace keeps your house warm, the flue that lets the smoke out can let cold air in. Keep it closed when you do not have a fire going, especially if your fireplace does not have doors. Lots of cold air gets in your home this way, and you do not need to have the flue open unless you are using the fireplace.

See if Your Local Energy Authority Offers Home Energy Evaluations. Some energy service providers will evaluate your homes' energy efficiency free. These energy inspections usually cover several areas of energy consumption, and if there are unsealed doors and windows that you have overlooked, the experts can help you find them. If no one offers this service free in your area, it is likely that you can find someone who specializes in this for a fee. However, if you are experiencing lots of cold drafts, you are paying a premium in energy costs for a cold house. It is definitely not worth it in the end, especially with the rising costs of utilities.

You want your home to be as energy efficient as possible while still keeping you warm during the cold winter months. Using these five tips to reduce cold winter drafts can help keep you toasty warm, and save you money as well. Whatever money you spend making your home more energy efficient will pay you back in full in reduced heating costs in the winter, and lower air conditioning costs in the summertime for that matter.

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