As the average daily high temperature continues to plumpet, you should be preparing your home for winter if you have not done so already. Not preparing your house for winter can cause high utility bills or even property damange. The core winter months can be hard on your property and your wallet. Here are just a few suggestions that could help you SAVE.
1. Start With an Energy Audit – Energy audits provide the best way to identify air leaks in your home. While some utilities and local governments offer free audits, it may be worth the expense of hiring a professional energy auditor to do a comprehensive assessment. This comprehensive audit will go beyond identifying obvious energy upgrades and will create a roadmap of where and how to best make improvements in your home. This is even more critical with historic homes because air sealing can dramatically alter how moisture moves through the structure.
2. Windows – Double check all the windows around the house make sure there is no air infatrating the inside of your home. As a DIY ( Do It Yourself ) project wait for a cool and windy day, light an incense stick, and move along the window frame. If you see air being sucked outside than you have a leak. For those who don’t like DIY, you can always hire a professional.
3. When you are home and awake, set your thermostat as low as is comfortable. When you are asleep or out of the house, turn your thermostat back 10° to 15° for eight hours and save around 10% a year on your heating and cooling bills. A programmable thermostat can make it easy to set back your temperature. Find out how to operate your thermostat for maximum energy savings. Also see ENERGY STAR’s June 5, 2008, podcast for video instructions on operating your programmable thermostat.
4. Lighting – Replace standard bulbs with CFLs. Compact fluorescent light bulbs are more energy-efficient than regular bulbs, while giving off the same amount of light. Use the right bulb. Make sure you’re using the appropriate CFL bulb for your light fixture – they come in various sizes and types for different lighting needs. Replace halogen light bulbs, which can get hot enough to be a fire hazard, with CFLs – they use less energy and don’t get as hot. Use motion-detector lights for all your outdoor lighting – they’re convenient and efficient.
These are just few ways to save energy and money this winter in your home. If we have a winter like last year, we are all certainly going to want to save a couple hundred dollars here and there. Like what you read and want to stay up to date with other blogs subcribe and recieve instant notification when a new blog is published or Check out 6 Ways to Fix Your Credit
