Canadian winters can be cold and unpredictable so there’s every reason to winterize your home before the cold season starts. With the long periods of time that you and your family will be spending indoors, it’s important that your home is both warm and comfortable throughout the season.
Here are five ways to help create a home that will keep your family warm and cozy this winter, as well as help save on winter’s rising energy costs:
#5 Use your fireplace.
Warm up cold rooms quickly by preparing to use your fireplace this winter. Warming up rooms using your fireplace means less work for your heater to warm the space.
#4 Insulate floors over cold spaces.
Having cold feet? There may not be enough insulation under your home’s floors above cold spaces. Consider installing insulation in floors over un-insulated areas. PINK FIBERGLAS insulation provides excellent thermal performance and can also be used to insulate the walls of other cold rooms such as the basement, crawlspace and garage.
#3 Replace old furnaces with more efficient models.
Not only will newer models operate more efficiently to help heat your home quickly, think about the impact this can make on your energy bills.
#2 Seal air leaks.
Cold air can enter through the exterior of your house. So it’s important to caulk, seal and weather-strip around all seams, cracks and openings. You can also reduce drafts from the inside by caulking, sealing and weather-stripping around windows and door frames, and near electrical boxes and plumbing penetrations.
And #1…Re-insulate your attic.
Top up the amount of insulation you have in your attic to at least 15 inches – or R-50 – and help slow the amount of heat rising and escaping from the top of your home. All you need is one weekend to lay down enough PINK FIBERGLAS batts and you can begin to see up to 28 per cent in savings on your heating costs* the next month.
And, even the government is willing to pitch in when you re-insulate your attic. Until February 1, 2010 you can qualify for the Home Renovation Tax Credit (HRTC), a non-refundable tax credit of up to $1,350 or 15 per cent of your renovation costs. The ecoENERGY Retrofit program also offers up to $750 in grants and provincial matching programs are also available in select provinces.
For more information on the ecoENERGY Retrofit program visit www.oee.nrcan.gc.ca
and for step-by-step instructions on how to re-insulate your attic to help winterize your home this winter, visit www.insulationtaxcredit.ca.
* Savings vary depending on the original amount of insulation in your home, climate, house size, air leaks, and personal energy use and living habits. The colour PINK is a registered trademark of Owens Corning © 2009 Owens Corning. All Rights Reserved.
- News Canada
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