subject: Preparing Your Home For The Cold Weather This Christmas [print this page] For most of us this means getting up that little bit earlier to clear the ice from our cars and driving a little more carefully on the icy roads. Quite often it is the case that we just dont want to go outside and would rather stay at home with a mug of hot cocoa.
Some homes though could be as cold inside as it is outside and all because our homes are not ready for the colder weather. Putting the fire on and using the central heating more is the common cure to a cold house and in most cases can help warm the house up when you get in from work, but some homes remain cold or never fully warm up despite these warming measures.
Despite our best efforts some homes seem to haemorrhage warmth and worst of all can end up costing a lot of money just to get your home to a bearable temperature. What truly lies at fault is our homes heat loss prevention features. A lot of people will have no doubt heard about all of the ways in which you can save your heat from being lost either through your walls, roof or windows, but still lots of people dont have these features and pay the price at this time of year.
Cavity wall insulation can stop heat transferring out of the warm inside to the colder outside, of which cold air can get in the space between your exterior bricks and the inner walls. The insulation in effect holds the heat and stops it being passed through. Roof or loft insulation works in a similar way, heat rises and so it is natural that a lot of the heat from your home goes up and into the roof space that is open and cold.
One of the best ways to keep heat in your home though is by getting double glazed windows. Our windows are not only losing heat when they are open but also a single paned window comes into contact with the warm air inside and the cold outside, this acts almost as a revolving door; your heat goes out, being replaced by the cold air outside. Having double glazing introduces a layer of air that acts as an invisible insulator.
A lot of people in the past have had to keep curtains shut to stop the heat hitting the windows and being lost, now with double glazing you can have the curtains open with no fear of the heat being lost.
