Our front door sucks. It is probably the cheapest one that the people who built this house could have selected. To make matters worse they had some dude who was driving around with windows in the back of his truck cut a hole in the door and install a window. I don't know if there is insulation in it, I have bent it while trying to open it and just this week Joey knocked something off the bottom of it. When we picked it up we realized it is what our weather stripping should be attached to but there was nothing there. Maybe it was an upgrade to include weather stripping with your door...when you live in Canada.
See this is what happens to our front door in the winter.
Our windows are crap. Again I think they went with the most basic model ever. They are cold, drafty and cold....and drafty. Thankfully the Building Code in Ontario is changing January 1 to incorporate increased energy efficiency. But obviously that does nothing for us now and we are stuck with the choices that we made when the house was built.
The nights are getting longer and the temperatures are dropping so for those of us with winter on the way that means it is time to look at our houses for preparations we can do to save energy (and money).
These are quick wins that you can do to prepare for winter:
* Clean/replace the filters on your furnace. The cleaner the filter the more efficient your furnace will work.
* Clean your duct work. Blockages will prevent hot air from getting where it needs to go.
* Repair and replace weather stripping on all doors. Drafts suck and weather stripping is a quick fix.
* Bubble wrap your windows. Keep the wrap to use year after year.
* Set your programmable thermostat. Have 'home', 'away' and 'night' settings. We have ours set at 72 when home, 68 when away and 65 at night.
* Clean your chimney. Again it will burn more efficiently if it is clean.
* Wash your blankets...time to cuddle under a blanket rather than cranking the heat.
* Open your curtains when the sun is shining in and close them when it is not. This will allow the heat in when it is sunny and keep it in when it is not.
* Bleed out your exterior water lines and bring all accessories inside. Seriously do this one.
* Stock up on eco-friendly and pet friendly de-icer and traction materials.
I plan on tracking the energy savings we experience this winter by winterizing a bit so stay tuned for that.
What are you doing to prepare for winter? Do you track your energy consumption season to season?
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Thanks, Jenn! All great great tips!
ReplyDeleteHopping by from the blog hop. I am your newest GFC follower. I hope that you can head to www.indianacouponsavings.com and follow me too. Thanks, Erin
ReplyDeleteBrrr! I don't envy you those drafts in the winter and I don't miss them now that we've moved to a warmer climate. I remember being horrified when I found out our house is not insulated. It doesn't get cold like in Canada here, but no insulation?! That almost broke the deal for me until I found out none of the house built here prior to 1988 were required to have insulation.
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say, we bought and have spent the time since investing in an energy efficient home. Still no insulation in most walls, but everything else we can do we will.
One day, we even hope to make use of out southern exposure roof with some solar!
Wow! No insulation would be so weird to get used to!
ReplyDelete