Just because it’s January and the middle of winter doesn’t mean it’s too late to be thinking about ways to save energy and money during the colder months of the year. If you prefer, think of if as getting a great head start on getting the same benefit during the warmer summer months!
There are many different things to keep in mind when it comes to maximizing the efficiency of your home. One of the most important things on this list is the weatherization of the home. Weatherizing a home can cut energy usage and, therefore, energy bills significantly for homeowners. In this blog post series, we’ve outlined a few weatherization practices that can have a huge impact on your energy bottom line.
- Ensure you have proper insulation throughout your home. Insulation can play a huge part in keeping your home energy efficient. Whether in the walls, ceilings/floors, around ductwork or water heaters, in the basement foundation or the attic, insulation reduces unwanted heat loss or gain inside your home. It’s one of the top factors that keeps your home comfortable, both now during the colder winter months and when your heat has warmed up significantly and has to remain cool during the summer.
- Insulate and seal can lights (recessed lighting). Speaking of insulation, another big area to pay special attention to other than what we mentioned in the previous tip is around recessed lighting in your home. Recessed lighting, also referred to as can lights, often are big culprits when it comes to conditioned air leaking into unconditioned areas such as the attic. As air escapes, energy is wasted and your heating and cooling system is forced to work much harder than normal in order to keep your home comfortable. Properly sealing these can lights will help stop these leaks. Always remember to use caution when doing work around electric units such as lighting fixtures.
- Replace old windows and doors. While it may be expensive, replacing old windows and doors with new, more efficient windows is one of the most effective ways to increase the comfort and performance of your home. Old, drafty windows cause a great deal of energy loss regardless of the season. The difference in window performance from old to new can be extremely great. If you aren’t ready to make a big investment and replace your windows, there are some other options. At BelRed, we offer the very effective alternative to full window replacement—Indow Windows. These window inserts provide many of the benefits of brand new windows at a fraction of the cost of full replacement.
In both the short and long term, weatherization can be one of the most cost-effective methods available to improve the comfort, health and energy efficiency of your home, and we offer a range of smarter solutions to help. Stay tuned for part two of our weatherization tips series coming your way shortly.
We hope you’ve enjoyed these weatherization tips. Thanks for reading!
