Is Your Home Losing Heat?

There can be many things in your home that is causing the heat to go right out of the window right along with your money. This can be from windows, doors, plumbing, poor insulation and even ceiling fixtures. Simply making a few adjustments to your home can really improve the amount of money that you are paying to the heating company every month.


Now it’s important that you understand that some of the things that you will eventually need to do will cost you some money. But these repairs are actually going to save you money in the long run.


But first let’s take a look at how you can determine if you have any drafts in your home. One of the most common methods is to light an incense or a match and hold it up to the many area’s in your home that were listed above that can have potential drafts. If you see that the direction of the smoke begins to change, you have a draft. You must cover the draft either using plastic, this is a temporary fix so you will need to either replace the window or re-caulk it if possible.


The next thing that you should do is to check your attic if you have one. You want to ensure that the insulation that is up there does not have any damage or gaps. If you notice that there is some damage you may need to begin looking into re-insulating the attic. Heat rises, and it will rise right out of your home if this goes left unattended. Insulation is far less expensive than what you have been paying for your heating bill. This is even a job that you can handle on your own.


There are various types of attic insulation that you can choose from. R-Value is the grade that you use in attics because it will resist heat. You will still need to decide on which material you are going to use – reflective foil, radiant, or fiberglass. Fiberglass is the most commonly used insulation, but this is not the best one to use in your attic since it does not resist moisture.


Repairing your home to be more energy efficient will save you a ton of money over the course of a year. So if some of the repairs are going to you cost you some money upfront you need to take into consideration how much you are paying for you bill and weight out your options.