Daily Home Renovation Tips

Editor’s Note: To view the 240+ different energy conservation tips for the home we have collected, simply access our Un-Official Guide To Home Energy Conservation.

In the previous article within our Home Energy Conservation series, we looked at activities which the average home owner can do which will cost nothing, yet can help to reduce the home’s heating and cooling costs.

Today we start our look at how the average home owner can reduce their winter home heating costs or summer home cooling expenses by undertaking steps which will cost next to nothing to do. In these turbulent economic times, we really do need maximum effect for our efforts.

Here is the Un-Official Guide to Home Energy Conservation ’s listing of air heating and cooling energy conservation tips:

To see all of the ‘cheap’ home energy conservation tips on the above list which relate to both the heating and cooling of a home, simply pull down the vertical scroll bar on the right.

The most common energy conservation tip is the programmable thermostat (#10) because it eliminates you having to remember and actually turn the temperature down at night, back up again in the morning, off again when everyone leaves the house for work / school, and so on.

I mentioned in yesterday’s article the vent cover blockers to ensure that heated air does not go into unused rooms or other areas of your home (#12). They are very inexpensive ($5 for a pair) and work really well.

Fix any storm or screen doors to make sure they work as intended in your attempts to retain your home’s heat in the winter or allow the evening cooled air inside during summer evenings (#12).

There are so many different types of caulking in hardware stores that it seems like one does not know which type to use for what purpose. Use exterior insulating caulking around the frames of windows and exterior doors (#13). As well, consider using strippable caulking around the opening to the attic (#14) to prevent heated air in the winter from escaping past the attic opening door or cover up through the attic and out of the house. Same in the summer to prevent all that hot air in the attic from creeping back into the house.

Consider using indoor draft stoppers to prevent heated air from areas used in the home to escape into rooms that are unused for periods of time  that already have the vent covers closed (#15).

Consider having door sweeps on exterior doors or even cold cellar doors (#16) (which if you think about are still doors leading to the outside). Later this month we will write an article to show you how easy it really is. 

Don’t forget to place insulation on the attic opening cover (#17). There are many inexpensive methods available from left over pieces of fibreglass pink insulation to specialty kits.

Remember yesterday’s no cost tip to check for any gaps in the outside faucet or cable lines? Well, today with the exterior caulking or foam insulation you purchased you can now seal them (#18).

Weather stripping is an inexpensive but very useful tool to prevent air leaks / drafts in your home. They can be used on exterior door frames (#19), cold cellar door frames (#20), electric panel cabinet doors such as pictured below (#21) or even some use them around windows (#22). Notice the black (in this case) weather stripping on the inside of both doors to the enclosure for the electric panel in our home within the picture below.

Gaps in a home’s metal duct work can be a major source of wasted heated (in the winter) or cooled (in the summer) air. Be sure to check the ducts in your home which you can reach and if you find gaps use inexpensive duct tape to seal them (#23). We found numerous in our home and will write a more detailed article with pictures of our situations. 

Don’t forget to check and replace ever few months the replaceable filter for your furnace (#24). A clogged filter makes your furnace work harder in the winter to produce heated air. Same in the summer for those with a central air conditioner.

The next three ideas we wrote about in two articles last fall, Home Air Leaks and Insulating Electricl Outlets on Exterior Walls and Insulating Wall Switches on Exterior Walls.   A very common area of air leakage in homes are on electrical outlets (#26) and wall switches (#27) on exterior walls. 

A very simple task is to simple remove the cover and insert the foam insulating gasket to prevent air leaks. 

And, while you are at it, why not place those child proof covers in the electrical outlets themselves when not in use to further prevent hot air in the winter (or cooled air in the summer) from escaping from the home causing the furnace / air conditioner to work harder, consume more non-renewable natural resources and increasing your heating / electrical utility bills (#25).

Lastly, one of the contestants to our home energy conservation tips contest last month suggested insulating around exterior door frames (#28). As you know from reading the series of articles on our lengthy exterior door installation last year, this one does not apply to us but it might to you.

Return tomorrow when we examine the remaining ideas for reducing your homes heating (in the winter) and air conditioning (in the summer) costs which at the same time reducing your home’s consumption of non-renewable heating and air conditioning natural resources.

To continue to the next article in this series, simply use this link for additional heating & cooling conservation tips.