How Can You Warm Up Your Home?

The weather outside is freezing — and you’re fine with that, as long as it stays there. You can’t handle having that winter cold creeping indoors and turning your house into a giant refrigerator. If you want to keep the chill outside where it belongs, you should make these home improvements.

Seal Up Air Gaps

It’s possible that cold air is sneaking through gaps around your windows and exit doors. How can you be sure? On a windy day, close all of your windows and doors. Then, take a stick of lit incense and hold it in front of these closed entrances. If the smoke from the incense blows away from the entrance instead of upward like normal, outside air is pushing its way inside.

After you find evidence of these air gaps, you should seal them with caulking and add a layer of weatherstripping. This simple chore can stop the winter cold from creeping indoors, and it can even lower your energy bills throughout the year.

Upgrade Windows and Doors

Sealing air gaps might not be very helpful when you have old, worn-down windows and doors. In this case, you should consider getting replacements that can really handle the seasonal chill. For instance, take a look at the best patio doors for Canadian winters – they’re made with top-quality materials and have energy-efficient designs. By getting these installed, you can improve the look of your back entrance and keep your interior warm at the same time.

Just make sure that you hire professional window and door installers to do the job for you. A poor installation will leave your home vulnerable to the winter cold and undermine the energy-efficient features that you desperately want.

Add Insulation

Wall insulation will give your interior a stronger barrier against the outside cold and keep your rooms nice and warm. It’s possible that you don’t have enough insulation in your walls, and you could add more to improve your indoor temperature. Make sure that you check your insulation levels to see whether you need this upgrade.

Change Your Filter

In the winter, you should be changing your furnace filter once per month. If you have a built-in filter, you should remove it and clean it just as regularly. A fresh filter will help your furnace run more efficiently and heat your whole house better.

Changing your filter more often can also help you avoid furnace breakdowns — something that you don’t want to happen in the middle of winter.

Decorate Smart

You can even modify your interior décor to make your rooms much warmer:

Add carpeting on the floor. This change can be especially useful for the basement, which will have the coldest floor in the house since it’s below grade and in direct contact with the foundation.
Add area rugs in rooms where you don’t want wall-to-wall carpeting.
Line your walls with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.
Move your furniture so that it doesn’t block any heating vents. You want the heat to properly circulate throughout the rooms.

Tackle all of these home improvements and stay warm this winter!

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