Nothing beats a warm and cosy home as a source of comfort. Unfortunately, rising energy costs and efforts towards becoming more eco-conscious make keeping it warm seem impossible. But keeping your living space toasty doesn’t require cranking up the thermostat. There are numerous affordable strategies you can use instead to warm it up while remaining eco-friendly. In this blog, we will look at a few different approaches you can use to make your home warmer without sending your energy bill into orbit.
Seal Drafts and Cracks
Before spending money on expensive heating gadgets, start with the basics. Your home could be losing heat faster than it can generate it. Drafts around windows, doors, or letterboxes may allow cold air into your home and pull warmth out just as quickly.
- Weatherstripping: Fitting weatherstrips to door frames and windows is an economical, straightforward solution.
- Draft Excluders: Draft excluders make an effective addition to any door. Consider getting one with an eye-catching design to add a bit of personality.
- Sealant for Cracks: Small gaps along skirting boards, floorboards or walls can be sealed using silicone sealant to block cold air infiltration and increase your home’s warmth. Plus it can help save on your energy bill in the process.
Once these drafts have been dealt with you may be amazed how much more comfortable and energy efficient your home becomes, not to mention saving on energy costs.
Use Radiators Efficiently
Radiators can often be underutilised or mismanaged, leading to heat inefficiency in homes. Optimizing their use is important to keeping warm while cutting energy consumption costs.
- Bleed Your Radiators: Air trapped within your system can prevent radiators from heating effectively, so bleeding them regularly to ensure they’re running at full capacity is important to their optimal operation.
- Upgrade to Aeroflow Radiators: Traditional radiators use natural convection to heat rooms evenly, leading to cold spots or uneven heating in certain areas of your space. In contrast, aeroflow radiators use forced air technology to distribute heat evenly throughout every corner of the room, so you can be assured that each corner stays toasty warm.
- Don’t Block Them: Resist placing furniture directly in front of radiators, as this will only soak up their warmth, leaving the rest of the room colder.
Small changes like this will ensure your radiators are doing what they should, which is to warm you up.
Harness the Power of Your Curtains
Curtains provide more than just privacy, they play a big role in insulation. Choosing and understanding how to utilize curtains efficiently can make a huge difference.
- During daylight hours, open your curtains wide to let sunlight fill the room and warm naturally.
- At night-time, close them tightly for maximum efficiency.
- Heavy, thermal-lined curtains may help retain heat inside and reduce cold air from coming in through the windows.
Layer Up Your Floors with Rugs
Cold floors not only cause you to shudder but they’re also an easy source of heat loss. A strategically placed rug can make a big difference. Acting as an insulator to trap heat and add an additional cosy layer against chilliness. We consider them win-win situations.
Insulate Your Home
Insulation can be one of the most cost-effective solutions to keeping heat inside of your home, and doesn’t always involve a complete overhaul.
- Loft Insulation: Without proper insulation, heat rises through the roof of your home and escapes through it, leading to significant heat loss. By adding insulation in your loft space, heat loss can be substantially reduced and also your energy bills.
- Wall Insulation: If you reside in an older home without insulation in its walls, invest in cavity wall insulation as energy savings may become apparent over time. Though more costly upfront, over time you’ll experience considerable energy cost reduction.
- DIY Draft Stoppers: Don’t have time or resources for an extensive insulation project? No problem. DIY draft stoppers made of cushions or even old clothing can easily fill gaps between door frames or floor cracks to make your home warmer as well as being an eco-friendly investment.
Cook Up Some Comfort
Warming your home creativity often starts with cooking hearty meals, both to fill your stomach and heart with comfort. Baking or simmering pots of stew creates extra heat, as well as providing delicious aromas throughout your house. Gather with family and friends around a feast for an enjoyable way to heat up your space.
Photo by Becca Tapert on Unsplash
Conclusion
Maintaining warmth doesn’t need to mean turning on the heating 24/7 and amassing massive energy bills. Instead, using some creative solutions with some forethought can help create an inviting space that keeps its warmth inside. From sealing drafts and layering up with rugs to harnessing soup’s warmth on the stove, there are many strategies available to you when it comes to combating chill. When frosty nights come around remember thick socks, hot beverages, and your comfort blanket were designed just for keeping warm.
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