Preparing Your Home for Winter and the Holidays
The holidays can’t come soon enough because, for many people, the holidays during December are the most anticipated time of the year. With the holiday cheers comes the dreadful winter that may harm not only us, but our homes as well. Each year before the holidays and winter come that we prepare our homes and do the necessary maintenance. Since budget is a very important factor to consider, we must keep our maintenance expenses to a minimum without compromising our home safety.
Managing Energy Costs
The average Canadian home spends over $2,000 per year on energy bills, half of which are spent towards heating and cooling. It gets worst, the more you neglect home maintenance for winter, the more energy gets wasted because of inefficiency.
Sealing Air Leaks
The first winter proofing maintenance you should always do is to seal all air leaks around your house that causes it to lose heat or cold. Having leaks in your home can add up to more than 35% air loss. The usual spots that you should check for the holidays are the windows, baseboards, door frames, and the sides of air conditioning units. A tube of caulk from your local hardware store costs only $5 and is effective to seal leaks.
Adding Attic Insulation
New insulation during winter time helps your home keep cold air out and the warm air in. The attic is usually the easiest place in your home to add insulation. Experts recommend that you should have at least 12 and up to 15 inches of attic insulation. The average sized home may spend around $500 in insulation. It’s very easy to install so you can do it yourself and save a great deal on labor.
Sealing the Attic
It’s also a great idea to have your attic sealed too. The sheet of wood that covers your attic stairs is not air proof so heat and cold pass right through it. An attic tent will be perfect to seal this off. This is an insulated fabric that suits your pull down stairs perfectly.
Filter Maintenance
We can’t emphasize efficiency enough when it comes to winter proofing our homes. Dirty filters in our homes cause them to work harder and consume more energy. The dirtier and more clogged our filters get, the bigger the problems they cause and the more costly. Be sure to have them replaced every three months and, especially before winter time.
Upgrade to Programmable Thermostat
In our more modern times, manual thermostats are too outdated. If you’re using one, you’re only wasting your hard earned money. Have a programmable thermostat installed in your home before winter and over time this can practically pay for itself as you can have up to $180 in energy savings annually because of this.
Financing Your Winter Home Maintenance
But what do you exactly do to stretch your budget when the holiday rush coincides with your home winter maintenance? A Bad Credit Loan is the way to go. This type of loan is very easy to apply for and the usual release of the loan money can even be within the same day of application. Go now to your nearest bad credit lending specialist and make this holiday and winter season the best for your family.