I woke up this morning to find frost on the windshield of
my vehicle and temperature of minus two degrees… that means only one thing,
winter is coming. Can’t complain because winter
comes every year. The key thing is
making sure our homes are ready for the worst Mother Nature throws at us!!
So how and what do you do? Hire a handyman? Send Mike
Holmes an email? Talk to Tony? All the above? Lol...
The first thing to do is make a list of what needs to
be done. The list can start off with
little easy things like turning the water off to the outside tap and draining
it. Caulking any gaps around windows and doors on the exterior of the home
along with baseboards at floor level, this alone will probably eliminate drafts.
Check the weather stripping around exterior doors and windows that open. If you
have older windows don’t worry about it, they sell plastic film that goes over
the windows and with a hairdryer you can get the wrinkles out of the plastic. I
have clients that do this every year and they tell me they save quite a bit of
money on heating bills during the cold months. You can get this at any of the hardware
stores. While you are there, look at picking up foam gaskets for plugs and light
switches on exterior walls, again good return on the initial investment. Once
you install them you don’t need to do it again unlike the window film! Just be
careful when doing this there is live current going through those outlets!!!
The other spots where you can save a little in heating
costs would be to add insulation to your home.
The attic is a good place to start; today the code is a minimum of an
R-50. So unless you have just built a home you more than likely don’t have
anywhere close to that (check with Manitoba Hydro first to see if they are offering
any rebates or credits for the insulation). Regardless if you qualify or not, the
savings will be there. Renting a blower to blow in the insulation is marginal. The
bags of insulation aren’t too expensive either.
If your basement is unfinished insulation is a snap. The
million dollar question is how hard core did you want to be in insulating your
basement. Do you want to spray foam the walls which is very expensive, or use 2
inch rigid foam on the walls? After you do either one of those, stud the basement on 16 or 24 inches
on centre and use friction fit insulation then you will have a very warm
basement. This will be a little less money than the spray foam. Remember you will
be still studding the basement to cover it with drywall in both cases (you can’t
leave foam exposed it is a fire hazard). The least expensive way is plain old
friction fit insulation itself using 2x4 studs pull the wall back 2 inches from
the foundation wall and use insulation designed for 2x6 walls this will give you
a good R value. You could use insulation designed for 2x4 walls which is
perfectly fine, if you wanted, but the R value will be less.
The last thing you should consider is checking the
furnace. Get it tuned up on regular basis and change the filter regularly for optimum
performance.
This should help you save a little money this winter!
If you are reading this and think "wow that's a lot of work, it’s the condo
life for me!" You can call The TonyMarino Team of Royal LePage Top Producers Real Estate for your Free Home
Evaluation and we will be happy to help you with you sell and purchase of your
new home. We are here to help you with all your Real Estate needs.
The Tony Marino Team has over 20 years of knowledge in
helping families, empty nesters, first time buyers find the right home.
We serve Winnipeg and surrounding areas.
We
are never too busy for your referrals.
This
is not intended to solicit sellers or buyers that are currently under contract
