| Winter Home Maintenance Tips |
|
General guidelines for keeping your home warm and efficient:
-
Have a qualified HVAC professional inspect your home’s ducts and cooling equipment.
-
Set your thermostat to 68°F when you’re at home and awake, and as low as 60°F when you’re asleep or awake.
-
Clean or replace furnace filters every month.
-
Clean chimney and check to see if your fireplace is working properly.
-
Seal air leaks in the attic, basement and crawlspace, and also around windows and doors.
-
Insulate inside of windows with heavy-duty, clear plastic sheets.
-
Check your attic for proper insulation. (The U.S. Department of Energy suggests a value between R-22 and R-49.)
-
Close curtains or shades at night and keep them open during the day
-
Clean windows on the south side of your house to maximize sunlight exposure.
-
Weather-strip doors that lead to cold or outside areas.
-
Wrap and insulate waterlines to prevent them from freezing.
-
Repair leaky faucets.
Extra steps you can take to save energy:
-
Install a programmable thermostat, so you can preset temperatures for different times of the day.
-
Insulate the water tank and first six feet of hot and cold water pipes connected to the unit.
-
Lower the temperature of your water heater to 120°F (for every 10-degree decrease in temperature,
-
you may save 3% - 5% on your energy costs).
-
Install rubber gaskets behind outlets and use switch plates on exterior walls.
-
Install low-flow showerheads.
|
Things you can do to improve air quality and reduce potential health risks:
-
When adjusting clocks, change batteries in smoke alarms, as well as radon and carbon monoxide detectors.
-
Consider a ventilation system to increase air circulation inside and add a healthy dose of fresh air.
-
Clean water-damaged carpets and materials, or consider replacement.
-
Reduce the potential for buildup of allergy-causing pollutants by keeping your house clean
-
Take special precaution when operating fuel-burning appliances to avoid leakage.
-
Store and dispose of household chemicals in a safe manner.
|
|
