Reversing the direction of your fan is one easy way to winterize your home.
When you’re enjoying the mild days of fall or seeing temperatures gradually rise in the spring, you’re probably not spending too much time thinking about how to winterize your home. However, it’s much better to start planning how to keep your home warm before the chill of winter sets in, so you don’t end up discovering the problems because you’re shivering in the living room.
Here are a few things to consider well ahead of next winter. Many of these ways to winterize your home may sound like minor fixes, but you’d be surprised what a big difference they make when it comes to your comfort and your energy costs.
Where Are the Drafts?
If you have bad drafts in your home, turning up the furnace isn’t going to do you a lot of good. In fact, you’ll end up wasting a lot of energy because your furnace is working overtime just to pump air out of the house—which is bad for both the environment and your wallet.
So how do you find these troublemaking drafts? In some cases, you may be able to see an obvious space between a door and the floor. A quick solution is to roll a bath towel up and place it in the gap. If you want a more aesthetically appealing solution, though, you can buy a door sweep or a decorative draft stopper.
To find less obvious leaks, walk around the house with a stick of incense on a slightly breezy day. Pay attention to where the smoke is being pulled out of the house. Use caulk to shore up cracks or small gaps in window or door frames.
Have I Changed My Furnace Filters?
Because dirty furnace filters restrict airflow, you use more energy without heating your house effectively. A good rule of thumb is that you should change your furnace filter every month during the heating season, and remember to check the entire furnace before the heating season starts. Fire up the heater at some point in the fall to ensure it’s still working, and have a professional come out for an annual cleaning and tune-up.
Have I Reversed the Direction of My Fans?
A lot of people don’t realize that you can actually use your fans to help warm your home in the winter. Just reverse the direction that the blades turn so that they’re forcing warm air down and recirculating it. The change requires very little work; in fact, most models have a “reverse” switch on them. When the blades start turning clockwise, you’ll know that the fan is pushing warm air down.
How Are the Gutters Looking?
Winterize your home: Maintain your gutters to prevent leaks.
If your gutters are full of leaves and other debris in the winter, it’ll trap rain and melting snow, which can form ice dams when the temperature drops below freezing. That can lead to water leaking into your house, which is the last thing you want in the middle of winter. Inspect your gutters and hose them out—making sure that they’re carrying water away from the house.
Is My House’s Insulation Up to Snuff?
Try this: climb up to your attic and look for the ceiling joists. If you can see them, that means your insulation isn’t thick enough, because it should be fully covering the joists. If you don’t want to mess with adding more insulation yourself, call in an experienced contractor who can do it for you.
Other Considerations to Winterize Your Home
If you’ve tried these relatively painless methods to winterize your home and still have issues, there may be larger issues that need to be addressed. At Sea Island Builder, we specialize in green construction and renovation, improving the efficiency of your home while decreasing the impact on the environment. Let us advise you on how you and your family can stay warmer in your home next winter.
What to Consider When You Winterize Your Home by Jason Fowler of Sea Island Builders, Charleston’s premier custom home builder and contractor