Tips for Reducing Heat Loss and Air Infiltration in Your Home

It's winter and there is a balance between staying warm in your home and keeping your electricity bill at a level that you can afford. During the winter, I hate getting chilled but I also hate paying high electricity bills. There are a number of ways to reduce the air leaks (or air infiltration) and heat loss in your home to ensure a warm and toasty abode all winter long, without the ginormous electric bill to back it up. Here are a few tips to help you.

Insulate to Reduce Heat Loss and Air Infiltration

An improperly-insulated home will continue to lose heat no matter what precautions and preventatives you take. While going back and re-insulating the walls of your home is cost-prohibitive, adding a little extra insulation in your attic can reduce heat loss and can be completed by any homeowner.

If you put your hand near the electrical outlets and light switches located on exterior walls in your home, you will like feel a lot of cold air. Outlets and switches are a major source of heat loss and air infiltration. Install foam outlet and light switch insulators to cut back on this air infiltration and thus reduce heat loss.

Reduce Heat Loss and Air Infiltration through Windows

Keeping your curtains, blinds and drapes pulled tightly will help keep the heat inside and the cold air outside. This is especially important at night and on those winter days that are cloudy and overcast days. Open the curtains on those windows that face the sun on sunny days to allow the sun's heat enter your home and provide extra passive heating. Be sure to close the curtains when the sun goes down to keep that heat inside and of course, the cold night air outside.

Covering windows with blankets or window quilts can air in heat loss air infiltration reduction in your home. See Make a Window Quilt to Reduce Heat Loss and Air Infiltration for instructions on how to make a window quilt.

Weather Stripping and Weather Proofing to Reduce Heat Loss and Air Infiltration

The weather stripping around your doors should not allow cold air to come in around the door. Put your hand near the door - if you feel a slight breeze, then your weather stripping may not be doing its job. Take a good look on a sunny day or have someone stand on the other side shining a flashlight. You should not be able to see light coming in around the door.

You can purchase new, adhesive-backed weather stripping at a local home improvement or discount store (Wal-Mart, Target, Lowe's, Home Depot). The weather stripping can be easily applied to the door frame in order to seal cracks around doors and keep the warm air in and the cold air out.

To block cold air and keep heat inside around windows, plastic weather proofing kits can be purchased at discount and home improvement stores. Window weather proofing kits include clear plastic sheets that are adhered to a window frame with adhesive tape. The plastic is then heated with the heat from a hair dryer. The heat shrinks the plastic, drawing it tight across the window to better stop drafts and cold air.

Weather stripping and weather proofing are both inexpensive and simple methods of reducing heat loss and air infiltration in your home. Weather proofing is usually removed when the weather warms up. Weather stripping is normally left in place until it wears and needs to be replaced.

Placing barriers at the bottom of doors to stop air flow and ultimately heat loss can also keep the heat in while not increasing your electric bill. See Make a Draft Stopper to Reduce Heat Loss, Air Infiltration for instructions on how to make draft stoppers for your home.

Try one or more of these suggestions to help keep your warm all winter and your heat bill manageable.

Source:
http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/energy/conservation/basics_1/tips.htm