If your home has a lot of windows there are some simple things you can do to prevent that cold convection that comes from the glass entering your home and robbing it from your heat. One of the most effective ways is to have some block out blinds installed on the inside of the window which act as another insulator. They work great and you can put them in where the greatest loss of heat is coming from in your home. You can put them down at night while you are sleeping and your heater won’t have to work as hard to keep your home comfortable.
Make sure that your fire place chimney flue is closed when you are not using the fire place. A lot of heat leaves the home when this damper is open.
Speaking of heat loss, check all of your doors that open to the outside. This is another huge air leak that infiltrates cold air into your living space. They are easily repaired and you can find most of those door sweeps and gaskets items at the hardware store. Windows have the same issues and can be addressed the same way. An easy way to check for leakage is to use smoke. Light a match and blow it out. Quickly place the smoking match next to the window seal and see if the smoke moves. If the smoke is still than you don’t have any leakage at that window. Move on to the next.
Another sign to look for in your home are the small spider webs that you see sometimes up the sky lights, window frames or any of the many can lights that you might have in your home. Spiders always build their webs where air is moving. This is an indication of an air leak and needs to be addressed. Simply change the gasket, use caulking to seal the crack or use drywall spackle.
As you inspect your home you will see many of these areas. As you fix each and every one of the leaks it will not only reduce your heating bill but make you home more comfortable and have less dust.
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