Washington State gets the full range of seasons, so hot summers can be followed by snowy winters as the year winds down. Winter can be a season that homeowners really feel in their wallets, depending on what the home heating situation is. Electric furnaces, for example, can have a big impact on your bills. But it’s not just the way you heat your home that has an effect on what your final monthly heating bills will be. Your home itself can help you to save some dollars, all it takes is a few strategic changes to prepare your home for the cooler temperatures of winter.
Insulate Your Home
Insulation falls under the category of “sizable investment,” but it’s one that immediately yields savings when you get it done. If your home had no insulation, then you will notice a dramatic difference immediately. If your home has older forms of insulation, such as fiberglass, consider an upgrade to newer types, like blown-in insulation, which can be used either in the walls of the home or for the roof, if you don’t have attic space.
Insulating your home means that you have a more significant barrier that keeps your processed air inside and prevents the outdoor air from bleeding in. If you have the type of home where you touch the walls in winter and they feel cold, you need insulation! Once you get it, your heating systems won’t have to work as hard or as frequently to maintain your desired temperature, and it will be a major help to your heating—and cooling—bills every month. It also increases your property value!
Weather Strip Your Home
You can do this either the high-tech way and use a thermal imaging camera on your home’s exterior to see where the cold is getting in, or the old-fashioned way by feeling for drafts. The important thing is finding the structural weaknesses that are allowing cold air to slip in, and then sealing or blocking them up with some sort of weather stripping.
Seal Your Windows
Once you know that you’re not going to be opening your older windows for the remainder of the year, an effective, low-cost strategy for saving money is to cover them in plastic. You can buy window insulation kits at most hardware stores. It’s a simple matter of attaching the plastic with adhesive strips, then applying a heat source—like a hairdryer—to tighten the plastic like a drum. That creates a layer of air that insulates your old window and prevents the cold from using them as the point of vulnerability and entering your home.
Upgrade Your Heating System
If you have an older heating system, it may be time to consider a more efficient, modern upgrade. Newer heating systems, such as ductless heat pumps, can heat a home more efficiently, use less energy, and even allow you to control the heating in a home from room to room!
To learn more about how to upgrade your heating system to a ductless heat pump give us a call!