Tight-Ass Tuesday Tips: Winterizing Your Home

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Reverse Your Ceiling Fans -- Apartment Therapy - Most every ceiling fan has a little switch on the side that reverses the direction of the blades to clockwise, which pulls air up instead of pushing it down. If you flick the switch and run your fan on low during the winter months, it will gently pull the cooler air up from the "living level" where we are and push it up to the ceiling where the warmer air is, forcing that warm air back down along the walls to the "living level". This has the effect of using your warm air far more efficiently. Your thermostat will now keep the room at the same heat level while drawing on your heater less often.

Replace the Weatherstripping on Your Doors -- Apartment Therapy - No matter what good things you do, the most money you could save would be to stop the hot air from leaving your house. All homes leak and plugging those leaks is job number one if you want to cozy up your living space. Calking around windows is great, but I think focusing on replacing weather stripping around doors is where you'll get the biggest bang for the buck.

Window Screens - Screens block the Winter's Sun. Even fine mesh screens can stop up to 20% of the sunlight that could enter through the windows and help to warm your home. Remove your screens in the winter.

Your Hot Water Heater and You - You should drain your hot-water heater once or twice a year to remove built-up sediment, allowing the heating elements to cool more efficiently. A good time to make this a habit is when you turn off or turn on the valves for your outside water taps to prevent freezing, since you will need a hose to drain your tank. Also, check the temperature setting on your heater. Hot water is one of the biggest energy expenses in your home and most heaters are set to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. This is too hot as water at such a temperature will need to be cooled down before you can use it. The hotter the water in your storage tank, the more heat loss there will be. 120 degrees Fahrenheit will do the trick for all your bathing and household needs. 

Stop Outdoor Locks from Freezing - To prevent the locks on your shed or other outbuildings from freezing, cut a six inch square piece of inner tube and nail it over the lock as a flap.
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