As the winter weather sets in, many of us are bound to need all of the heat we can get in our homes. However, keeping homes warm can be an expensive business – especially given that doing so is responsible for more than 70% of household energy consumption, according to The Conversation.
Fortunately, various ways of keeping a residence toasty have been put to the test – meaning that, even when they might require some upfront investment, they can easily pay off in the long run.
Avoid needlessly blocking your radiators
You might love having a particular chair or sofa right in front of a radiator, where anyone who sits there would be able to catch the heat. However, you might not have realised how much that piece of furniture is preventing everyone else in the room from being able to enjoy this heat at its optimum.
You should therefore do what you can to keep objects – like curtains or drying clothes, not just furniture – away from your radiators.
Have insulation installed in your loft
Here’s another startling statistic to chew over: about a quarter of heat generated in the home is lost through its roof. Your loft could be largely at fault here, as it would obviously be one of the few lines of defence against heat rising from your home’s main rooms and towards the roof.
Hence, you would be well-advised to have 25cm of insulation fitted throughout that loft – and to protect that insulation by utilising something like the award-winning loft boarding service from Instaloft.
Upgrade your boiler if it is over a decade old
A boiler this old could well be relatively inefficient with how it expends energy. Fortunately, though, you probably won’t struggle to find and afford a new, more efficient model to replace it with. But before you decide on replacing your old boiler, best to browse for different boiler prices that will fit your budget.
You should seriously consider having an A-rated condensing boiler installed. It would be especially wise to have this put in place just before winter – as your household is then unlikely to face such boiler issues as breakdowns deep into winter, the time when you could most do without them.
Replace old, single-paned windows with double glazing
Yes, it’s a pain when your house always feels conspicuously cold – and the source of the problem could be, well… a pane. Yes, just the one pane. According to one statistic on the Homes & Gardens website, an old, single-paned window will let 84% of a room’s heat escape to the outside world.
However, new, double-glazed windows from Bristol double glazing would retain more heat in your home, due to the barrier-like layer of trapped air between each window’s two panes of glass.
Get new external doors fitted
As doors age, they can warp and end up fitting less tightly in their existing frames – leading holes and gaps to emerge between the door and its frame. As a result, draughts could more often enter the home and imperil its internal warmth. So, you could feel an improvement in that warmth if you replace any of your residential doors with newer units.
