One of the most effective ways to reduce your heating costs during the winter is to find areas in your house that let out heat and fix it so that less heat is released from that particular weak point. That way, you'll have to spend less on creating new heat. This is also an effective way to be eco-friendly since you'll draw less on the Earth's resources. Here are a few areas you can look into for retaining heat in your home including especially storm shutters.
Thresholds in Doors
The quickest way to check your door thresholds to see if you need to make them better at preventing heat from escaping is to look at them during the day. If there's daylight coming in above the threshold, then it could be better. This means that the door is not actually making contact with the threshold. As a result, air is likely escaping right through the bottom of the door.
You can often fix this by loosening the screws a bit so the threshold expands and moves up a bit until the door is making light contact. Obviously, you don't want the door to be impeded in opening, but it should largely kill light coming in right under the middle of the door. This will ensure less heat can escape.
Windows
Purchasing windows that have double-panes or other ways of blocking heat from escaping is one method to helping with energy costs. However, another effective method is to put plastic wrap over the entire area.
Wrap isn't very expensive, but heating up air constantly often is. That's why this is a low-cost way to get your energy costs down and help save the environment at the same time. If you're worried about the ecological effects of plastic, you can also always use plant-based products.
Additionally, you can use storm shutters to make sure heat is retained even during extreme storms where gaps and heat loss happens more commonly.
Electrical Sockets
The electrical sockets in your house can also often be a source of heat loss. It's often difficult to make the insulation all around the sockets as tight as what's needed, so they can often let in drafts. Sometimes cold air can even runs through the box as well. You can fix this yourself by using caulk or foam sealant to fill up the gaps.
Many contractors will also be able to perform this operation for you. Other ways you can help is by using a foam gasket, which you can also seal up with foam or acrylic latex.
These operations often only cost a few dollars and a small amount of time to accomplish. But, they can have a large effect on keeping your warm air inside.
To learn more, contact a company like Active Hurricane & Security Protection.
