A house is special in that it not only provides us comfort and warmth, but protection against the outside elements. It’s only when we hear the storm outside or the rain pounding that we gain an appreciation for this, because otherwise finding natural shelter is something many of us take for granted.
As we spend more time in our homes over the winter and especially the festive period, you get to reflect on your household and take another look at how it functions. It might be that now is the time you finally fix that broken stair banister, or the banging of your door in high winds requires you to reinstall it with additional locks. Don’t worry if you notice a fault, it’s an opportunity to implement a fix and make that function better for all the years to come.
In this post, we’ll discuss three of those essential insights you learn about your house over the winter period, and what to do with them:
Identify Draughts & Insulation Issues
If you’ve heated your home throughout the winter but notice the place still doesn’t feel that warm, it may be that you have a real insulation issue to attend to. It’s not always clear where this might be, or how to address it yet, and so going around the house is key. Look for any draughts, close windows and doors and see if the room is still struggling to heat up, and check your energy bills vs the cost of a full-scale insulation improvement. It might give you the space you’re looking for.
Assess The Durability Of Your Outdoor Structures
A gate banging, a fence damaged, or even issues like a garden shed being damaged by debris flying due to the wind, the winter is the most common stress test for a household, and it’s worth making sure you assess and note down which repairs need to be made. In some cases you may need to reinstall a fence panel, in others you may need to completely rework your garden path thanks to ground being frozen over and causing damage. Makes sure this assessment takes place, and you’ll always know where to start.
Utility Bills
In the winter, when you use your house to its fullest capacity (such as with guests, heating, water use and much more) you begin to see where you could cut costs based on your saving needs. So for example, if your internet held up perfectly fine despite so many devices being used ,you might even consider downgrading your package because you know the speeds could handle the limited use when you don’t invite so many guests. If you think the heating bill was a little much, you could utilize HVAC companies to install air conditioning units that can heat specific rooms as and when you need it, which is cheaper than central heating. Over time, your bills can inform you of which direction to take the household, and that in itself is healthy.
You might want to look at your water costs and whether the quality of your water is the best it can be for the health of you and your family. Using a utility provider like American Water will leave you assured and confident in the quality and cost of your water supply.
With this advice, you’re certain to learn more insights about your household over the winter.
10 comments
These three points really hit the nail on the head. We had some draft issues and decided to change all the windows recently!
Precious information, even though there is no winter in my country, the information you share is helpful.
Yes! My husband is always looking for any drafts in our home and he is actually reinsulating our bedroom which was an addition this spring/summer. It is important to use less eneregy and by improving the insulation we should save on energy bills.
I live in a costal are and we don’t get winters here at all.. but I can relate to all of this since lot of my relatives live in the mountain areas with harsh winters
Our house is well insulated but I sure would like to get a new heat pump. Thank you for the great article.
Winter season is harsh and these are great things to consider about a house. I know that when you take good care of it, it will take care of you. So it’s important to note what is broken and needs to fix or at least maintained. Plus, the feeling of fulfillment when you upkeep a house is priceless.
Maureen | http://www.littlemisscasual.com
We’re currently insulating both our attic and the basement. I hope this will make a difference.
I haven’t really thought about the utility bills but yes I agree with you that it provides us better insights and perhaps an opportunity to save. Thank you for recommending the use of HVAC companies. Will look into it.
I can understand these points but I live in a place with no winters, we actually have the reverse, with the bills touching maximum during summers since the heat is at its peak
Your tips on identifying draughts and insulation issues, assessing the durability of outdoor structures, and even managing utility bills are incredibly helpful.