Whether you’re moving into a new home or staying in your current home during the change of seasons, weatherization should be at the forefront of your mind. This is an important part of properly maintaining your property as a homeowner.
What is weatherization? How does it benefit your home? How can you start taking advantage of the benefits of weatherization now? Keep reading for our top weatherization tips.
What Does Weatherization Mean?
Weatherizing a home means getting it ready for the weather. While it typically means preparing for harsh weather—like sweltering heat and bitter cold—it can include other weather conditions. That’s because weatherization helps prevent any heat or cold from impacting the inside of the house. It also prevents the effects of rain, snow, and other weather events from affecting the interior of your home.
This has the obvious benefit of keeping the inside of the house more comfortable. However, it also saves money. This is because weatherizing ends up reducing energy bills, as less energy is required to run the heating and cooling systems in the house since they’re less influenced by what’s happening outside. This makes weatherization an economical and practical choice.
The weatherization process begins with an energy audit. This involves giving the house a thorough examination to discover what problems exist and what can be done about them. The most effective energy audits are run by a professional, as they have more experience in finding flaws and presenting solutions.
Best Practices for Weatherizing Your Home
While weatherizing your home is an intense process that varies between properties, there are some common best practices you can follow. These are great to do at any time of the year and will always give your home a much needed boost.
1. Clean Your Gutters
Cleaning your gutters is a great way to prepare for the worst. This activity allows your gutters to function efficiently and prevents them from becoming a problem during a storm. You should clean your gutters regularly throughout the year.
2. Install a Smart Thermostat
A smart thermostat is a more advanced way to control the temperature within your home. It uses technology to adjust the temperature, keeping your home comfortable while saving you money. It also prevents you from worrying about the temperature as much as you normally would since this device takes care of everything for you.
3. Check Your Air Filters
Your home’s HVAC system has air filters that improve the quality of the air passing through them. Over time, these filters get clogged with all the dirt, dust, and allergens they capture. The only way to get them working again is to swap them out for new ones. Most homes should have their air filters replaced every three to four months.
4. Improve Ventilation
Ventilation can have a big impact on a home’s comfort level. It can help with cooling and dealing with moisture. Improving ventilation can allow you to improve the temperature in your house without seeing an increase in your energy bills.
5. Seal Cracks & Holes
Cracks and holes are places where cold air can enter your home in the winter, warm air can enter in the summer, and rain can enter throughout the year. These gaps are vulnerabilities that pierce through the protective layer surrounding your home. Sealing up these gaps prevents problems from entering through any of these vulnerable points.
6. Insulate Your Walls and Attic
Insulation in the walls and attic helps your home maintain its temperature despite the temperature outside. This makes your home more comfortable and reduces the energy bills you have to deal with. Think of it like giving your home an extra layer of clothing so it’s less affected by the weather.
7. Air Seal Your Windows and Doors
Your windows and doors are common places where gaps exist. Even little gaps on the edges of the window or near the bottom of the door are large enough to allow a stream of air to seep through over time. This is why you should check your windows and doors. Once you find gaps, air sealing them will help eliminate these problems and better insulate your house as a whole.
Improve Your Home’s Energy Efficiency with Hutchinson
If you’re looking at ways you can improve the energy efficiency of your home, Hutchinson can help. We’re an HVAC company with decades of experience working on plumbing and HVAC systems. Over the years, we’ve learned what simple tasks can make all the difference when it comes to household energy savings.
Our team can help you do things like install a smart thermostat, give your home’s heating system a tune-up, look at the current status of your air filters, and much more. By the end of our visit, you’ll see serious improvement in your home’s energy efficiency and cost savings.
We also perform full upgrades that can improve how your home’s systems function. In some cases, your old furnace or AC unit is using way more energy than a newer model would. We regularly help our customers replace their heating or cooling systems with more updated models. This provides long-term savings that kick in every time you heat or cool your home.
Our Service Locations
At Hutchinson, we serve customers across New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. We serve popular areas like Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Trenton. We also have offices in many surrounding cities, enabling us to reach you faster. Give us a call to discover how we can help you weatherize your home before it’s too late.