Winter is here, and it is not too late for you to winterise your home. Winterising your home means making your home cosy and comfortable by insulating it effectively, sealing drafts, emptying outside pipelines, including warm décor items, and many other such changes. In this blog, Gharpedia provides tips and tricks to make your home winter-friendly. But before we move there, let us find out the importance of winterising in brief.
Why it is Important to Winterise your Home?
It is important because if your castle is cold, then it can easily inflame your lungs, inhibit the circulation of fresh air, and enhance the risk of respiratory conditions like asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Even a minor infection can turn into a high-risk situation. Additionally, a cosy atmosphere always provides an opportunity for people to spend more time with their families. Cosiness and warmth during the winter allow family members and friends to enjoy dinner and gossip all together without shivering.
Tips and Tricks to Winterise Home
Creating a winter-friendly home comes with a lot of questions and doubts, but there is always a basic motto: having a perfect and comforting feeling. For a winter experience to work perfectly for you, your home must have the following four qualities:
- Easier to arrange and manage at the same time.
- Stylish and inviting.
- Functional.
- Organised.
01. Winterise Your House with Thermal Insulation
Firstly, insulate your house properly to ensure that warm air circulates inside only. Major areas that require insulation are attics, walls, and crawl spaces. If there is an existing insulation layer, then check for its condition. If it is in good condition, then it will insulate; otherwise, you will need to fix or change that first. The most common home insulations are fiberglass insulation, blown-in insulation, and spray foam insulation.
02. Block Drafts to Keep Your Home Warm During This Winter
Drafts mean a flow of cool air coming inside from the gaps or cracks in the openings (doors, windows and ventilators). If you discover a small crack in the door or windows, then there is a huge chance to lose energy, which eventually results in making your house uncomfortable. Close all the openings (doors, windows, and ventilators) and then check for drafts. If there are any drafts, then seal them or cover them up. This will prevent the loss of warm air from inside and, simultaneously, block the cold air coming from outside. Fortunately, the installation of weather stripping can help you get rid of this problem.
03. Winter Décor to Winterise House
Winter is the time of festivities and decorations. It helps enhance the beauty of your home. Be mindful and make the right choice while doing so. Go for efficient LED lights that last four times longer than incandescent ones. When it comes to furnishings, choose bright and warm furnishings. Add air-purifying houseplants as home décor because, during the winters, most openings will remain closed most of the time and there will be less exchange of inside and outside air. Some popular air-purifying plant species are Poinsettias, Holly, Mistletoe, Amaryllis, and other varieties of Lilies.
04. Pay Attention to your Indoor Air
Especially in the winter, you are meant to spend a lot of time indoors. Then, it is important to confirm that the air you breathe is in good condition and contributes to your overall well-being. It is important to clean the filters or replace them when required.
Negligence can result in the entry of bacteria and viruses into your house, where they accumulate and recirculate themselves.
05. Make Sure your Pipes are not Freezing
Remember that wrapping pipes, as shown in the image above, can prevent freezing. Try to pay attention to the pipe’s joints and bends that get cold faster. If you are going out of station, then try to impose some preventive measures to overcome the burst pipe disaster by:
- Regulating the temperature of the heater to not drop below 55°F
- Keeping the cabinet open, which allows heat to transfer from cabinets to pipes, ultimately warming the water within the pipes.
For details on winterising outdoor pipes, click the link:
06. Keep your Home Warm this Winter with Passive Heating
Winter days are shorter, so never deprive yourself of limited sunlight and its warmth with the use of heavy curtains. Instead, opt for thin films, especially one-way films. This film provides extra insulation and protection against UV rays. In the kitchen, you can turn on the oven and keep the door open to enjoy the temporary burst of passive heat.
07. Check the Position of Your Radiators
If there is any furniture placed in front of the radiators, it means that you are blocking the heat from entering the room. Move the furniture away from the radiator, so the room heats up faster. You can use radiator covers to camouflage the radiator.
08. Use the Perfect Winter Rugs for Warmth Under Your Feet
Rugs add a style statement to your room. However, in winter, rugs also serve the purpose of keeping your feet warm and comfy. Hence, to make your home winter-friendly, choose rugs made from natural materials, as they provide warmth and texture.
09. Allow the Influx of Sunrays
A cold winter day blessed with direct sunlight is soothing and relaxing. Warm up your home this winter by opening all the curtains and letting your house flood with natural light and the warmth of the sun.
10. Duct Booster Fans to Cosy up your Home This Winter
If you want forced hot air, then you can use duct booster fans that increase the flow of warm air via a duct in an excessively cold area.
11. Winter Home Décor Tips: Curtains and Linens
In winter, people like to keep their curtains open during the day to get the warmth of sunlight and close them during the night to get away from the cooling effect of the cold breeze. Curtains act as a tight-fitting covering for windows that help trap heat inside. Velvet bedlinen and other stuff can block a cold breeze from entering the space.
12. Winterise Home with Warm Lights
The lighting of a room determines the feel of that room. Hence, it is important to have a warm light scheme for winter. To make your home winter-friendly, use more warm-coloured lights like off-white, golden, yellow, etc.
Check out the article below to have the perfect lighting:
13. Invest in Some Great Heating Gadgets for your Kitchen Right Away
Chills cause discomfort anywhere, even in the kitchen. So, it is necessary to invest in the right gadgets to prevent you from the trouble caused by chilled water. While tea kettles or open pots come in handy when you require a small amount of water, a geyser is highly useful in the kitchen when you require a large quantity of hot water.
14. Use Reverse Ceiling Fans
Reverse the movement of the ceiling fans in a clockwise direction. This supports the warming of the downward air and keeps the room warm. As illustrated in the above image a fan moving clockwise sucks cold air upwards and throws warm air towards the floor and vice-versa.
Here’s a video to sum up all the points mentioned above:
Conclusion
Winter brings along the uneasiness of cold weather. However, you can always winterise your home with the easy tips and tricks mentioned here and enjoy this beautiful season of snow.
Once the winters are gone, you will also have to de-winterise your house; you got lucky as we have a blog for that too which you can save now. Check out the link below.
De-winterizing A House: A Step-By-Step Guide
FAQS
01. How can I select the right elements for my winter-friendly home?
The fundamental elements you need to include are: the use of warm colour combinations; introducing cosy lighting; decorating the space with natural elements; and so on.
02. Which elements are a must for creating a winter-friendly home?
Elements that support warmth and freshness in the area are considered the ideal choice for a winter-friendly home. For example, air-purifying plants, natural rugs, velvet curtains, woolen throws, cosy lighting, and many more.
03. How to maintain my winter-friendly home easily?
Replace the air filter at an interval of 60 to 90 days. If you have any passive smokers or pets in your house, replace the filter frequently instead of duct cleaning, which is also expensive.
04. How to know it’s time to create a winter-friendly home for yourself?
When the temperature drops below 15°C, it is a suitable time to completely get ready for a winter-friendly house.
05. What’s the best advice for creating a winter-friendly home?
Go only with the options that provide warmth and cosiness in your apartment, like LED lights, radiators, insulators, air-purifying plants, etc.
Author Bio
Ruchi Singh – Ruchi is a full-time freelance writer and editor working for national and international clients. In her free time, she writes short stories, poetry and inspiring ebooks. She loves to spend quality time with her family.
For any content writing requirement, you can get in touch with her at toruchi22@gmail.com