Winterizing your home interior

As winter comes around, and heating bills rise, there are some simple things homeowners can do to fight the cold, and keep energy costs lower. Here are some great ways to winterize your home interior:

1. Check for air leaks- Go through your home, looking for places air can escape. This could be windows, gaps or cracks in basement walls, underneath doors, or drafts from an attic or basement. Seal any cracks or gaps with an expanding foam product such as "great stuff".

2. Install weatherstripping around windows and doors to keep drafts out. Check old weatherstripping and caulk to be sure that it's not old and cracking.

3. Use a Programmable Thermostat to keep the temperature slightly lower when nobody is home, and slightly higher while you are there.

4. Use solar heat. Keep blinds and curtains open when the sun is shining, and allow the light to warm your home. When it's dark or cloudy, you may want to close them to prevent the radiant cool from the window panes out.

5. Update window treatments. Using thermal window treatments can drastically reduce cold air from coming off the glass window panes. Honeycomb shades (or cellular shades), are a great choice, as well as insulated curtains, and roman shades.

These tips should help keep some of the winter cold from chilling your home. Winterizing your home can be an easy task, and doesn't need to cost a lot of money.

Additional Resources:
Alternative Energy Sources

Insulated Drapes from Linens-N-Things

Programmable Thermostat

Insulating Honeycomb Shades from Blinds.com