Tips For Keeping Your Cincinnati Home Warm

Those who live in the beautiful city of Cincinnati know well how chilly the nights can get, especially when the winter months come rolling in. With temperatures regularly dipping below freezing during the night, it can be challenging to keep the inside of your home warm without overworking your furnace. While the professionals at Herrmann Services are here to ensure your furnace is doing its absolute best to keep your home warm, we’re also here with a range of tips and tricks that will help you keep your home warm and cozy on even the chilliest nights. Our professionals have been in the business of keeping Cincinnati homes warm for decades, and over the years, our licensed, experienced professionals have learned a thing or two about keeping the cold out. Follow these tips to make the most of your heating system this winter.

5 Tips for Keeping Your Cincinnati Home Warm

Aside from turning your thermostat up several degrees, there are several tips any homeowner can take to keep the warm air inside of their home where it belongs during the winter and hold the chill outside at bay. Some are as simple as closing your existing curtains and blinds, while others may involve a bit of elbow grease and a few small home improvement investments. Regardless of the size of the steps you take, though, you can rest assured you’re working toward creating a warmer, more efficient home for the winter months.

1. Use Your Blinds and Curtains

Blinds and curtains can be used to make a room’s aesthetic feel complete and look absolutely stunning. However, these decor additions serve a practical purpose as well. When keeping your home warm is a priority, you can start by opening the blinds and curtains during the daytime during warmer, sunny days. This allows the sunlight to heat your home naturally. However, on overcast days or after sunset, close your blinds to hold heat inside the house. Heat dissipates more quickly when it comes into contact with cold, hard surfaces such as windows. Blinds and curtains provide a crucial, warmth-preserving barrier between your home’s heat and your chilly windows.

2. Find and Seal Cracks and Gaps in Doors

Have you been noticing a draft around any of your doors or windows? You might be losing more heat from these drafts than you think. Sealing off cracks beneath entry doors is easy with the use of a “door snake,” a simple piece of material that easily slides beneath a door to create a tight seal. Other options for handling pesky door drafts include:

• New weatherstripping
• Using foam tape to block cracks
• Replacing or installing a door sweep

If you’re in dire need of warmth and do not have access to these tools right away, roll up a towel and press it firmly to the crack in the door to block air from moving in and out. While not as effective as other methods, it’s better than nothing when you’re trying to keep your home warm.

3. Make Sure Your Vents Aren’t Blocked

Your furnace works hard to create and deliver warm air throughout every room of your home, but if your vents are obstructed, that air simply cannot arrive at its destination. If you have furniture, curtains, or other household belongings in front of your vents, you won’t be getting as much warm air in your home as your furnace is creating. Rearrange a cool space to allow your vents to “breathe” more easily. Furthermore, obstructions inside of a vent can make air delivery harder as well. To tackle this issue properly, you’ll need to work with a trusted team of HVAC specialists in Cincinnati to clean your air ducts and remove any blockages or hindrances that keep warm air from flowing properly.

4. Warm Up Your Floors

Wooden floors are beautiful and provide homes with a classic, homey feel that simply can’t be matched. Unfortunately, wooden floors are also often entirely uninsulated, leading to an astonishing amount of lost heat during the winter months. If your floors aren’t already properly insulated, it’s a project worth investing in. However, if this project is too expensive for your budget or you simply require a more immediate solution, using a series of rugs and carpets throughout your home can help to trap heat inside and keep any space a little warmer.

5. Insulate Your Windows

Doors aren’t the only place you’ll find problematic drafts during those cold nights. Windows (especially older, warped windows) are subject to developing gaps and cracks and allowing your warm air to escape the house with ease. While the ideal way to handle the situation is calling in a team of professionals for a replacement, you can also temporarily remedy the issue yourself by investing in a window insulator kit. While they can be labor-intensive, they provide your home with the efficiency it needs and your family with the warmth you deserve. If you’re unable to find a kit, consider temporarily hanging up an insulative material, such as rigid foam or even bubble wrap. While not ideal or beautiful, they’ll get the job done when you need to retain heat in the house.

Let Herrmann Services Help Keep Your Home Warm

While there are many steps you can take on your own to keep your home toasty and warm in a pinch, some issues simply require the touch of trained professionals. At Herrmann Services, we’ve carefully selected each and every one of our technicians to ensure they’re up to the task of handling any furnace or electrical problem you might be facing, no matter how big or small. No job is too extreme when it comes to the crucial task of keeping your home warm throughout the winter. Contact us to learn more about how we help keep homes throughout the Cincinnati area safe each and every year and how we can do the same for you.