When winter comes around, the cold in the UK usually hits us quickly. It can be difficult to maintain a warm environment at home. After ensuring you have your heating fuel topped up to last you for the cold months, we have some other ways you can help keep your home warm and keep the heat around for longer:
Insulation
This is one of the most efficient ways to keep the cold out, and the lovely heat in! By ensuring your home has insulation such as that in the wall cavities, roofing or around pipes, you will definitely feel the benefits.
Insulating your loft is one of the best options, and is super cost-effective. With a good contractor, it should last around 40 years. It is also worth checking with your council to see if there are any schemes running to get the expenses paid or cheaper for insulation.
Windows and Doors
A simple, and very often overlooked way of reducing heat loss in your home is to keep all your doors shut. You’ll therefore have less big gaps for the heat to escape to. This is the same for windows – sealing any gaps around the window is also a great way to keep the heat in too. If you don’t have double glazing, this is a worthy investment. Make sure you do this before winter as you don’t want to be without them during a cold spell!
Consider the type of flooring you have. If you have floorboards, this is another secret way heat likes to escape! Filling the excess gaps between them is a cheap and easy way to keep warm whilst creating a professional finish.
Move Your Furniture
This might sound a bit odd, to begin with, but moving your furniture can help you keep warm. Position chairs and sofas away from drafty corners and doors, and you may feel a difference. Although it’s not a way to keep heat in, it will certainly make you more comfortable.
Make sure you don’t place these right in front of the radiators either, as it could be absorbing heat which is best circulated around the room.
Seal Old Fireplaces
This is another thing which can be overlooked, but your fireplace can let a considerable amount of heat out of your home – they do open up to the sky after all. Once sealed you can decorate the space with logs or stones, and use your more efficient heating fuel as a means to warm the home.
Bleed Your Radiators
It can be easy to push this job to the side, but all radiators will need doing at some point. Bleeding them regularly can actually prolong the life of your full heating system.
Bleeding your radiator is pretty simple, and it is essentially removing excess air which has built inside them. You can check to see if this has happened by comparing the heat at the top and the bottom of the radiator – if there is a huge difference then it will probably need bleeding.