You need to look out the window to save energy
Heating up an entire house or even heating a room can be an expensive business. For that reason it is a big shame when a significant amount of that heat is allowed to escape due to poor insulation, especially when insulation costs can be recovered in just a few short weeks with a little thought and preparation.
With most of this year's difficult winter now thankfully behind us, now is the time for every UK family to assess how they fared. It’s a simple equation: how warm did we stay this year and how much did it cost us?
If the answer to one question more or less cancels out the other then you must have got your heating/cost equation right. If you paid a lot and were till cold, then you have to have done something wrong.
So where do you begin to look? When somebody asks you an awkward question where is the first place you look? Why out of the window, of course.
And that's where the problem might lie! Because statistics show that that where most of the wasted heat and energy flows also. Out of the window!
So before next winter descends upon us (and it won't be that long) take the time to examine if your windows have been letting them down and what you will need to do to get them back on your side.
If your window frames are old and rickety then you should look closely and carefully at replacing them. Whist this can cost a great deal of money, it will undoubtedly be a great long term investment both in terms of saving energy, as well as adding value to your property. If you feel that replacing frames and/or going for double glazing is too much of a long term investment, you could consider approaching your bank or building society for a long term loan. If you are also getting blasts of cold air from that direction also, then maybe it would be better to consider a shorter term solution involving less cost.
Strange though it may seem, investing in a really good pair of curtains can also help an awful lot in the battle to conserve energy, as they will effectively trap the air that is circulating in the room, and prevent it getting to the leaky window, while preventing cold air from creeping in from outside. If you take this path, go for a heavy material preferably with lining, and they should be full length. These curtains shouldn't need to cost a fortune, and you can always take them down in the spring, summer and autumn, and hang them again when winter looms.
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