Keeping your home warm during the long Rocky Mountain winters can be difficult. It’s not impossible, though. A few quick home maintenance fixes can go a long way toward keeping your home better insulated. Better insulation means your home will stay warmer and heat more efficiently, which will also reduce the cost of your energy bills. Here are a few tips from RMCat to keep your home warm and save you money as well.
– Replace weather seals and gaskets on windows. If your weather seals are looking…well, weathered, they probably aren’t insulating as well as they should. This is a relatively quick and inexpensive fix that helps to better insulate your home, saving you money in the long run.
– Close curtains and lower window blinds at night. This can reduce the effects of any chilly drafts leaking from your windows.
– Place an insulated cover over an attic hatch. Chilly air in your attic can leak into your home through the hatch, so covering the hatch can keep your home warmer.
– Change furnace filters regularly (at least every 3 months or so, maybe more). Air has a difficult time flowing through dirty filter. This makes your furnace work harder to circulate air, which means bigger energy bills. Clean filters allow your furnace to operate more efficiently.
– Turn your thermostat down 1 degree (or up 1 degree in the summer). The difference in temperature is barely noticeable, but still enough to make for smaller utility bills over the course of a season.
– Seal forced air ducts. Inspect your home’s air ducts, looking for sections that should be joined but have separated, and for any obvious holes. To repair a leak, seal the gap with a heat-approved tape, such as foil tape.
– Seal small holes with spray foam. Cold air can leak into your home through any gap, crack, or hole around walls, windowsills, doors, and foundations. To stop these leaks, fill gaps and cracks with spray foam insulation.
– Remove plant growth from around your home. Plants can grow right against and into your home. This growth can put pressure on your home’s walls and foundation, which can create cracks or other damage over time. If you have any shrubs, trees, vines, or other plants growing against your home, remove them or keep them trimmed back.
These are just a few tips to keep your home warmer. These tips should also help to reduce your energy bills and even save you some money over the course of a season. If you have any other questions, from home maintenance to disaster restoration, contact us today!
To contact Rocky Mountain Catastrophe, call us at (970) 722-7744 or email [email protected].
