In our last blog, we discussed fall maintenance tips for the exterior of your Wake County home. Let’s take the party inside and discuss how you can increase efficiency and prepare your home for the winter months ahead.
Save Energy in Your Raleigh Home
There are some other big ticket items to avoid on the inside of your home and the first place to begin is your heating system. Heating and cooling amount to 47% of the total energy costs in your home. Give your furnace a fall tune up and cleaning. Just as you change the oil in your car you need to have your furnace cleaned and serviced and cold air return vents changed monthly. The life of your heating system is greatly reduced when you do not have it cleaned and serviced. Cracked heat exchangers on gas furnaces are almost always caused by lack of maintenance. A cracked heat exchanger allows deadly carbon monoxide to enter your house. Signs of a cracked heat exchanger can be dark areas around your vents, infiltration lines at your base boards. Have a professional inspect your heating system now before it gets cold. We can recommend someone local to your home (Cary, Apex, Wake Forest, Morrisville, Holly Springs).
Did you know that 10% of your heating bills, according to the U.S. Department of Energy are lost around windows and doors? Gaps in caulk and weather-stripping can account for huge energy loss. To save money and be more comfortable in your home this winter, check the weather stripping around doors and windows. Another place that most Raleigh homeowners forget to check is electric receptacles. A little spray foam will seal up and prevent any drafts.
A simple way to check:
- Stand away a few feet from each door and window and look for daylight coming in through an opening. You should not see any light.
- Close a door or window on a strip of paper; if the paper slides easily, your weather stripping isn’t doing its job!
- Close the door or window and hold a lit candle by the frame (use caution and stay away from flammable items). If the flame flickers at any spot along the frame, you have an air leak.
Prepare Your Attic
Check the attic to ensure there is no way for rodents or other pests to enter and nest during cold weather. If you see any openings covered with wire mesh, foam spray or plug with steel wool. If you see daylight, that is like a sign in the window that says; “rooms available” you’re inviting unwanted guests into your attic. Plug them up.
Prepare for the Holidays
Check those appliances that you only use when you are entertaining large groups such as your turkey roaster, 50 cup coffee pot or warming drawer. The last thing you want is to have a large family gathering for Thanksgiving and something is broken! Take the time to check it now.
Additional Indoor Maintenance Tips:
- Organize your garage. Clean and store summer garden tools and move your snow shovel, salt and other snow removal equipment into an area you can get to them.
- Inspect your fireplace to prevent fire and energy loss. Check fireplaces for soot or creosol build up caused by wood burning and cracks in your motor, or gaps in your fireplace screen
- Replace the batteries in smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Install a smoke detector on every floor of your home, including the basement.
- Change the direction of your ceiling fan to create an upward draft that redistributes warm air from the ceiling.
- Check basement windows for drafts, loose frames or cracked panes.
- Vacuum internal parts of air conditioning. If you have a window unit remove from windows or wrap outside box with an approved tarp or plastic air conditioner cover in order to prevent rusting of vital parts.
- Clean your humidifiers regularly during the heating season. Bacteria and spores can develop in a dirty water tank resulting in unclean moisture misting out into your room.
- Prepare your yard equipment for storage. This includes draining fuel from all gas operated equipment such as lawn mowers, leaf blowers, and chain saws.
For more home tips please visit www.LindaCraft.com. We have a team of Wake County real estate experts that are happy to assist you! Please call 919.235.0007 today!