Insulate Your Fall

The temperatures are beginning to fall. Which is quite fitting because it is Fall. Before it gets too cold outside, take some steps to insulate your home. The tips below will not only save you money on your utility bill and reduce your energy consumption, they will also keep your home a more consistent temperature during the colder months.

• Ensure Walls and Attic Are Densely Insulated: Properly installed insullation in empty walls or an open attic can make a huge difference in the air temperature inside your home. Hiring a company to blow insulation into the open spaces of your home will save money year-after-year on heating and cooling your home.


• Make Your Windows Work for You: Your windows might be older and not necessarily designed to block outside air temperatures. You can do two things to fix this problem. Install double-pained windows in your home. If this is too expensive, buy a caulking gun and caulk the paremeter of the window, ensuring no gaps or holes exist.


• Ensure Your Furnace is Efficient: Your furnace was probably installed prior to 1992. This means it likely has a standing pilot. That system is extremely wasteful, wasting about 35% of its fuel. The federal government recommends replacing these furnaces with condensing furnaces with annual efficiency of at least 90% which wastes no more than 10% of the natural gas in the home. It also saves around 27% on heating bills.


• Improve Your Hot Water System's Efficiency: Start by reducing the temperature of your water heater to the "warm setting" of 120 degrees. Next, insulate the hot water tubes so they stay warm between uses. Then, install "low-flow" shower heads and fixtures around your home.


• Do All the Other Stuff: Some other common sense steps exist to reduce the heating bill during the winter. If you have wood floors, cover them with an area rug. Set your heater temperature to a lower degree and wear warmer clothing. Close the fireplace so the outside air doesn't come in. Shut the blinds and curtains in the house when you are sleeping or at work.

A lot of these tips came from Here

Lowes also has some great information HERE and HERE