Many of us live in houses or apartments that have rooms that never seem to get warm. This can be more of a problem in older houses that were not so well insulated when they were built.
Thankfully there are lots of different ways to add heat to a problematic room, regardless of your housing situation and budget.
Once you have a warm room, it can be difficult to keep it warm, so hopefully you’ll find some tips in this article.
Utilise The Sunshine
Sunshine is a natural, and free, way to heat your home. During the day, make sure your curtains are open so the sunlight can get in. Even on the chilliest days, the sunlight is still warm, especially as it passes through the windows.
Sunlight is really effective at warming up a room, and if you have double glazing, the heat will stay in the room quite well.
After sundown, it’s important to get those curtains closed to keep the heat in. Consider using double lined, or insulated curtains to really keep all that heat in the room you want it in.
Maximise Your Radiator’s Efficiency
There are many ways to warm up a room, but have a look and see what you already have in there that may not be working as efficiently as it could.
If you already have radiators, do not put any furniture in front of them, as that won’t allow heat to circulate within the room. In some houses, the radiators are placed under the windows, which is not that efficient. As the heat rises, it escapes out of the windows, so consider putting a small shelf above the radiator to direct the heat into the room.
You can also buy radiator foil which slips between the radiator and the wall and reflects the heat back into the room, instead of into the cold wall. You can also use standard kitchen aluminium foil if you can’t find the radiator foil.
If you’re also looking for the best radiators in modern and traditional look, please visit the radiator outlet website.
Keep The Doors Closed
When you are trying to keep a room warm, keep the doors closed. Doors are very effective at keeping the heat contained within a room. It’s also good practice to keep doors closed within a house, for fire safety. So you can protect your home and keep it warm simply by closing doors.
If you have those pesky gaps at the bottom of the doors that let the heat out, you can buy rubber fixings for this area that seal the gap. Alternatively, you can buy or make a draught excluder which sits along the gap of the door and stops the air flowing in.
In the wintertime, it can also be beneficial to have a heavy curtain covering your front door. The main door can let in a lot of draughts to your home, as it has a keyhole, and a letterbox and may get opened frequently. A curtain can help to keep those cold draughts away from the rest of the house.
Invest In A Portable Heater
If you have one area of the house that is particularly cold, or if you don’t have central heating, you could invest in a portable heater.
You can purchase electrical ones, gas powered ones, or ones that run on oil. These are particularly useful as you can take them around the house with you to keep whichever room you’re in, warm.
Historically these types of heaters have been horrible energy inefficient. They are much better these days, but always check the energy efficiency rating to make sure it won’t be adding a lot of money to your utilities bill.
Get Cooking
In the autumn and winter months, we very often begin to crave heavier, more warming meals, like soups or roast dinners. These types of meals warm us up from the inside, and keep us going for longer in the colder weather.
The other benefit to these types of foods is that they do take a far while to cook, so your oven will be on for an hour or two.
Having the oven on is an excellent way to heat up the kitchen, and depending on the size of your house, will also warm up other rooms too, therefore your oven is performing multiple jobs. The perfect excuse to get cooking!
Get Some Rugs
Carpeted floors are much better at keeping the room warm than wooden or tiled flooring. However, carpet has fallen out of fashion in more recent years, with many people leaning towards the easier to clean option of hard flooring.
Hard flooring no doubt looks beautiful, but in the colder months, can make a room much cooler. To combat this, invest in some large rugs that you bring out for the chillier seasons, and lay them over the hard floor.
This will help to keep the room warm, and it will also warm your feet if you’re not wearing house shoes.
Get Some Insulation
If you live in an older home, it may not be very well insulated. Contact a company like spray foam insulation Lexington KY who can come and assess your home, and where it is losing the most heat.
They can then advise you on ways to make your house more heat efficient, and may advise adding insulation to some areas, or upgrading certain fittings, like changing to double or triple glazing for example.
As you can see, there are several different things you can do to help keep your home warm. If you are really struggling to keep warm, then concentrate on keeping yourself warm, by piling on thick jumpers and warm socks.
You could also invest in a hot water bottle to keep yourself toasty warm whilst you’re at home. A lovely, cosy blanket that you can cuddle into on the couch will also help to keep you warmer and make you feel lovely and cosy too!
If you need to make any changes to your house, always check with a professional first, and if using a portable heater, always follow the instructions to stop it becoming a fire hazard.
