How To Make Your Home Warmer In Winter

Whether it's a snowstorm or chilling temperatures, wintertime can leave your home freezing. You don't want to crank up the heat and pay the price in your utility bills. What steps can you take to make your home warmer?

South Central Services has insulated hundreds of homes in southern PA. We also live and work in an area with chilly geography. It is our job to help homeowners make their houses more comfortable and affordable to live in. By reading this article, you can get a professional recommendation from your own home.

By the time you've finished reading, you'll know:

• Why your home is so cold in winter
• How to fix the issues causing the cold

Your Home Is Likely Cold Due To Air Leaks.

The primary reason houses are cold in the winter is air leakage. When cold air can infiltrate your home, it is tough to keep the house warm.

The critical thing to understand about air leakage is that air leaks mean air exchange. It's not just that cold air is flooding into your home, but that warmer air is escaping outside.

So, where is the air leakage coming from, and how can you fix it?

Air Can Leak Through Older Windows & Around Door Cracks.

Windows and doors contribute noticeable air leakage. If you stand near an incorrectly installed or an older, low-performing window in the winter, you can feel the air is several degrees colder. Cracks around your door let in drafts. Even if you keep your doors and windows closed tight in winter, cracks still allow cold air to infiltrate.

Several solutions exist for the air leakage caused by your doors and windows.

Short Term Fix: Foam Insulation Panels.

If you're on a tighter budget, foam insulation panels are a simple fix for your windows. You can install these in the interior of your window frames. While the foam panels will block out sunlight, they will also keep out a significant amount of cold air passing through the single-pane windows.

Budget-Friendly Solution: Caulking / Can Foam.

What about your doors? If your door frames have cracks or crevices where you can feel a draft, the most affordable fix is caulking or can foam. Caulking is best for small holes or gaps, less than a quarter inch in size. Can foam is ideal for any areas larger than a quarter inch.

You can also invest in a draft stopper or door jamb if there is a crack between the bottom edge of the door and the floor.

Permanent Fix: Update To Energy-Efficient Windows.

When you have the resources to invest, upgrading to energy-efficient windows is the best solution for a cold home in winter. Especially in older homes with single-pane windows, double- or triple-pane windows will deliver significant energy savings and comfort.

Windows are an expensive investment. However, you can use federal tax credits and financing options to help offset the cost of your energy upgrade.

Air Can Leak Through Your Attic, Basement, & Crawl Space.

Air leakage is less obvious in your attic, basement, and crawl space. However, these areas of the home can be incredibly problematic in the winter. Most homes around Greencastle don't have any air-sealing measures in the thermal envelope, as shown by high energy bills and extreme cold in the winter.

In the winter, your home experiences something called the stack effect. All the warm air in your home is drawn to the cold outside. The conditioned air you pay for usually exits the house via ceilings. If you don't have an airtight seal in your attic to stop the air leakage, you are paying for heat you don't get to use. It's like leaving a window or door open.

As discussed earlier, air doesn't just enter or exit the home. Air is exchanging. As hot air exits through your attic, replacement air is pulled from your basement or crawl space into your home. These areas are already cold, and the air brought in via the stack effect can be frigid.

So, how can you limit the stack effect in your home? You need to insulate. Let's look at your insulation options based on your budget.

More Budget-Friendly Solution: Blown-In Attic Insulation.

Not all insulations are created equal. More budget-friendly insulations do not offer the same performance as premium insulations. You might not have the money to invest in premium insulation. So, does that mean you can't do anything to make your home warmer? Not at all. You just have to maximize the performance of more affordable insulations.

Our top recommendation for homeowners with a tighter budget is to insulate their attic floor. The most affordable and effective way to insulate your attic floor is blown-in insulation paired with a separate air-sealing product.

By air-sealing the attic floor, you stop your conditioned air from leaving your home. The less hot air exiting through the roof, the less frigid air entering through your band boards below. Once your attic floor has an air-seal installed in every crack, crevice, and hole, you can cover the floor with a blown-in insulation product.

Your attic needs to have insulation. Blown-in is the most affordable attic product, offering both flexible installation and a good R-value. The blown-in insulation will stop conductive heat transfer. Since blown-in cannot air-seal, that separate product is vital to prevent convection and radiant heat transfer.

How much blown-in insulation will cost depends on the size of your attic.

More Permanent Fixes: Spray Foam In Your Attic Or Crawl Space.

If you have more budget, consider upgrading your insulation to spray foam. Spray foam is a premium product. What makes it so unique? Its ability to both insulate and air-seal. Unlike blown-in insulation, spray foam combats conduction, convection, and radiation.

Spray foam can also be installed on your attic floor, insulating and air-sealing at the same time. Or, you can use spray foam to encapsulate your attic. We recommend attic encapsulation whenever there is HVAC ductwork running in your attic because this supports the function of your HVAC system all year long. However, encapsulation is also more expensive because more surface area is insulated.

Once your attic insulation is sufficient, the next area of your home that needs attention is your crawl space. (The same principles apply to your basement band boards if your home doesn't have a crawl space.)

Even though air exchanges are limited after insulating your attic, air exchange will still happen. And when it does, the air pulled into your home is cold from the crawl space.

Crawl space encapsulation uses spray foam, so it tends to be a more expensive home improvement upgrade. But after encapsulating, your crawl space will be clean, accessible, and conditioned. No more pulling cold and musty air upstairs.

Check out these resources for more information on the cost of these upgrades.

• Cost of attic spray foam insulation
• Cost of crawl space encapsulation
• Cost of band board insulation

If There Aren’t Any Air Leaks, Examine Your HVAC System.

At this point, you may be asking, "But what if my insulation is fine?" Or perhaps you're wondering, "Isn't my HVAC probably at fault? Maybe I should upgrade my heating system."

Home improvements should follow this order:

1. Exterior sheathing
2. Insulation
3. HVAC

If you upgrade your home out of order, you risk ruining or invalidating a previous investment. The wisest way to use your money is to address your insulation before your HVAC.

That being said, you might have airtight insulation in your home already. If your home isn't cold due to air leakage in your windows, doors, attic, or crawl space, your HVAC might be the problem.

What are the two most common issues with HVAC systems that cause homes to be extra cold in the winter? Let's take a closer look.

Your System May Be Outdated Or Need A Part Replaced.

Like most things in life, HVAC systems do break down over time. HVAC contractors service machines that need parts replaced and install new systems to replace outdated ones. Depending on the age of your home, your HVAC system might need to be completely overhauled. Or, a single component of your system may have failed you.

Contact a qualified HVAC contractor and ask them to look at your system. A warmer winter might be as simple as a parts replacement.

Your System May Need To Be Resized.

Poorly functioning HVAC systems are not always broken or outdated. Sometimes, the systems are simply the wrong size.

HVAC systems are designed to move a certain quantity of air throughout your home. Upgrading to a more efficient or high-powered system isn't always the best move. The size of your home might not need that amount of efficiency. Other system elements–such as your ductwork–may prevent these systems from reaching their maximum potential.

You'll want an HVAC system to be sized appropriately to your home's airflow needs. These needs will change depending on your insulation. This is another reason why we recommend insulating before upgrading the HVAC.

If you start by getting a more powerful HVAC system and then decide to address air leakage via insulation, the HVAC system will deliver more performance than your home needs. You'll have to resize the HVAC system again, wasting your investment.

Contact a qualified HVAC contractor if you suspect your HVAC system has been poorly sized. Again, we recommend addressing air leakage through upgraded insulation before resizing your HVAC system.

Which Home Improvement Should I Focus On First?

You might be feeling overwhelmed at this point, which is the last thing we want for you. The good news is that there are only a few culprits making your home so cold this winter. And depending on your budget, there are a variety of solutions to help your home stay warmer!

If you've reached this article's end and don't know where to start, we recommend a home energy audit. These audits usually cost a few hundred dollars, but many energy companies offer incentives to have these audits completed.

A home energy audit will evaluate the problem areas in your home. The audit will tell you where the air leakage is coming from and what problems should be addressed first. If this article gives you the list of the issues, your home energy audit will prioritize the list.

If you can't find a qualified auditor near you or don't want to spend $300 on a professional walkthrough, your best bet is to insulate your attic. 90% of the attics we see don't have appropriate attic insulation.

Effective attic insulation is key in the wintertime war against the stack effect. You should see a decrease in energy costs and a significant improvement in the comfort of your home.

The Bottom Line About Making Your Home Warmer This Winter

You are not alone in having a cold home during the winter or being frustrated by high energy costs. Houses are usually cold in the winter because of insufficient insulation and uncontrolled air exchange. If you want a warmer home, you need to identify where the air is leaking and stop those leaks.

After your air leakage has been addressed, you can make sure that your heating system is optimized and functioning properly.

If you live in south central Pennsylvania or nearby Hagerstown, Martinsburg, or Leesburg, reach out to our team. We'll travel to your home for a free consultation and provide a free estimate for your insulation upgrade.