A Few Ways to Warm Up Your House

Many people use different means to heat up their homes. Some prefer the old-fashioned fireplace, some prefer water heated radiators, and some people like the modern central air-conditioning. There are countless ways to make your home warmer, but there only a few simple ways to warm up your house for free. So, let's see what they are. Install insulation. This is the best way to protect your home from getting cold in the winter. You can apply insulation all over the house from the outside or the inside. This way your walls become thicker and the material, from which the insulation is made, keeps the walls from getting cold. Many house owners claim that they almost don't need to heat their home after they installed it. Use heavy or thermal curtains to stop the heat from escaping. The thermal curtains are quite expensive, but you can also use normal heavy curtains and it will be the same. They will stop the cold air to come inside through the windows. If you don't like this idea, you could also apply special insulation for the windows (for the spaces where the windows open – no matter how good your windows are, there is always a spot or two, which are unprotected), but it's a lot easier to just put the curtains. Seal up any gaps and cracks. The cracks in the walls and near the windows are also very unpleasant, if you want to keep the heat inside the house. You should take care of them before it gets cold, because if you try to seal them in winter, the plaster will probably fall of the wall or crack again from the moisture. Close off rooms you're not using. If you want to warm up your house easily, you could seal some rooms you're not using for the time being, like the guestroom, or a closet. You can just put some tape on the gaps and everything will be OK. The less space you need to heat, the better. Insulate hot water pipes. This may not help particularly with the problem of heating the house, but it's always nice to have hot water to warm ourselves in the shower. Very often pipes freeze during the winter and there's no water. After they unfreeze, there's a danger of them to burst and flood your house. That's why it's important to keep these pipes insulated. The only thing you need to do, is to wrap each pipe in a blanket of some foam insulation. Let the sunshine in. It may sound silly, but sunshine, even in a cold weather, is the best way to warm up anything. It’s also very healthy to open the curtains for a few hours a day and see some sun in a cold day. This may help with many chronic illnesses. Maintain the heaters. Before the winter comes, you should seriously consider getting your heaters checked, so they won't let you down in the middle of the cold season. Cleaning and maintaining the heaters should be included in your housekeeping checklist at least twice a year – once in the beginning of the cold season, and once in the end. This way you won’t have to worry about possible malfunctions and your heaters will be more energy efficient. If you take care of these small things, you'll not only have a warmer house, but your bill for the electricity will be smaller. This way you can enjoy your holidays without worrying about the cold.