In the colder months, it’s essential to keep your home nice and toasty, but there are plenty of ways in which you may be losing heat throughout your house. Unfortunately, you may not notice it or even be aware that these things are causing you to increase your central heating.
When you turn the central heating on, you want it to do its job and warm up your home. However, if your home isn’t adequately insulated, you’ll be dealing with heat loss. As well as this, you’ll also be wasting a significant amount of money as well.
We’ve put together several ways you can reduce/prevent heat loss in your property.
Insulation
One of the first things that come to mind when thinking of preventing heat loss is insulation. With heat escaping through walls, floors, doors, windows and your roof, inadequate insulation will result in a considerable amount of heat escaping from your home.
Inspect your current insulation and fill in any gaps or install more insulation where necessary.
Windows
Any cracks or gaps between window frames and the surrounding walls can result in heat escaping from your home, and subsequently, your heating bill is higher than necessary.
Therefore, if possible within your budget, double or triple glazed windows are incredibly beneficial for keeping a house warmer. Otherwise, using a sealant to fill in gaps is an effective and low-cost way of retaining heat.
Curtains
While it may seem logical to keep curtains shut to retain heat, opening them during sunny days allows heat to enter your home. Close them when it’s dark and cold. Using thick or thermal lined curtains also provides an excellent way of keeping in heat and covering any draughts.
Just make sure not to allow curtains to cover radiators as this will block heat from getting into the room.
Radiators
Already mentioning this in our post about how to keep your boiler working this winter, bleeding your radiators is essential for keeping your home warm. If you notice cold spots on your radiators, this means that air isn’t circulating as it should be.
Instead of dealing with a prolonged amount of time to heat a room, bleed your radiators to get them back in working order.
Radiator Shelving
Surprisingly, a shelf above a radiator can help to improve how effectively a radiator warms a room. The heat from a radiator rises towards the ceiling, but installing a simple shelf above will allow heat to move forward into the room.
Roofs
With a quarter of heat lost through the roof, it pays to insulate your loft or flat roof. The simplest way to prevent heat loss is by installing insulation in the loft cavity. Ensure no gaps are left uncovered, and you should find yourself feeling much warmer at home.
Chimneys
Nowadays, most people don’t use chimneys. With electric and gas fires installed in most homes, chimneys are used less and less. An open flue is like having a window open in your home at all times. And as chimneys are designed to draw air from a building, they are a significant cause of heat loss.
If you’re no longer using yours, get it capped by a professional. Consider investing in a removable chimney balloon if you still utilise your chimney.
Floorboard Gaps
Gaps between floorboards are another way you could be losing heat from your home. To reduce heat loss, fill in any gaps between floorboards and between them and the skirting boards around the room.
Floor Insulation
An estimated 10% of heat loss in an average home is through the ground floor. (Source: The Green Range). There are, however, several things you can do to reduce heat loss through your floors.
Underlay under your carpet or floor-covering will add an extra layer to keep heat in. If you have exposed floorboards, simply adding a rug to the room will block and draughts. If you’re able to access the space, you may also be able to add underfloor insulation below your floorboards.
Doors
Whether it’s the external or internal doors, the type of door you have and even small gaps between them and the door frame can mean you’re losing a lot of heat throughout your property. Heat loss will be affected by the material of your door, for instance, glass doors lose more heat, but they do allow in more solar heat.
Opting for doors with insulating foam in its core will reduce heat loss. Draught excluders around doors, like draught-proofing strips and excluders between the bottom of doors and the floor, will also help to reduce heat loss.
