The Million Dollar Question: How Can I Keep Heat From Escaping My Home?
Heat Escaping From Your Home?
Warm weather has come and gone, and the colder weather is here to stay. During this time, we ask ourselves is heat escaping my home? We tend to stay inside more, relying on our homes to keep us warm. Unfortunately, some houses aren’t as equipped to keep the heat inside. When cold floors and drafty rooms are forcing you to bundle up, you may be wondering how to keep your home warmer. Here at Home Solutions of Iowa, we have the solutions to your heat loss worries.
How Heat Escaping Affects Home Comfort
Heat loss is referred to as air leakage, which is the scientific process that draws warm air to colder spaces. Areas around masonry, plumbing, and electrical wiring are top areas where heat loss occurs. These areas draw the warm air that you pay for away from your living spaces, as well as a lack of insulation, unsealed ductwork, and aging windows and doors. Our Home Performance Evaluation test is the ideal way to know exactly where heat is escaping. We can identify ways to make your home more comfortable, energy-efficient, and cost-effective to live in.
How To Improve Home Comfort
When looking to improve indoor comfort, the first step is to reach out to a professional for advice. They have the tools and knowledge to get your home to the maximum comfort. The most common ways to increase comfort in the home is through proper insulation, air sealing, and energy-efficient windows and doors.
Home Insulation: Proper home insulation is an essential part of comfort and energy efficiency in any home. Using the proper insulation material that reaches the correct R-Value can go a long way. Proper home insulation will make you feel more comfortable in your home, but it will also save you money and allow your heating systems to run more efficiently. Areas to look to insulate include the attic, basement, crawl spaces, floors, and ceilings.
Air Sealing: Air Sealing is the practice of filing small cracks and gaps in the home’s structure. During the building process of the home, these areas puncture through building material due to proper functioning. As a result, your home is left with small holes for air to pass through. Areas we look to Air Seal include around chimney stacks, plumbing, and wiring holes, attic access hatches, crawl space access doors, around window & door frames, and other areas. By Air Sealing your home, you maximize the amount of heat that stays inside your home.
Energy Efficient Doors & Windows: Windows and doors are known for air leakage, drafts, and poor insulation. Older homes tend to suffer more from this issue. A common way to improve this issue is by installing energy-efficient windows and doors. With drafts and inefficient windows and doors, HVAC systems have to work harder and could potentially break down and require maintenance more often.
