12 tips for making your home more eco-friendly this winter

Baby, it’s cold outside! Keep the warm this winter with 12 tips for maintaining an eco-friendly home during the chilliest months.

Double the glazing, double the sustainability

Double-glazed windows shield your home against cold weather and prevent heat escaping from your property, meaning less heating is needed. Not only will switching to double glazed windows cut down your carbon footprint, but it will also reduce outside noise and improve the appearance of your home – win win(dows)!

Boilers

Get your boiler serviced as soon as possible to make sure it is working efficiently for winter. If your boiler is over 10 years old, consider replacing it with a more efficient model, such as an A-rated condensing boiler. Not only will this save energy and have less impact on the environment, but it will also save you money: an A-rated condensing boiler uses less energy to produce the same amount of heat and could save you up to £350 a year when replacing an old G-rated non-condensing boiler.

Use your tumble dryer sparingly

The days of hanging your laundry outside are depleting and we’ll soon be faced with the dreaded dilemma of drying your clothes indoors! If you are the lucky owner of the tumbler dryer, it can feel all too easy (and cosy!) to chuck every wash load into the machine to avoid living in a maze of clothes horses. However, it is important to be mindful of the fact that tumble dryers are extremely harmful to the environment for the amount of energy they use – not to mention their terrible habit of shrinking clothes!

Limit your tumble dryer usage to towels and bedding – you know, the bulky stuff that you need to dry quickly! Everything else can be hung out on a clothes horse, but just make sure it is in a well ventilated room and away from the walls to avoid mould. And never put wet clothes on the radiator, however tempting!

Harvest your rainwater

Put that Great British weather to good use this winter with a rainwater harvesting system that collects and stores rainwater for human purposes. The water can then be used to irrigate your garden in summer, flush toilets, wash cars, clean clothes and can even be purified for human consumption – saving you money on your water bill while also saving the planet.

Draught-proof your home

There’s plenty of ways to keep those pesky draughts at bay, and at a minimal cost! Foam strips can be purchased at most hardware stores to fill the gaps on leaky windows and placing a rug on bare floorboards can drastically improve the warmth in your home.

Another very simple way of draught-proofing your home is effective usage of your curtains and blinds. Drawing your curtains as soon as it gets dark and opening them during the day to let in the winter sunshine is a great way to keep the heat in and the draughts out.

Loft insulation

The recommended depth of loft insulation is 270mm, so check the insulation you already have and give it a top up if needed. You can top up the insulation yourself, provided that there are no damp problems and you do not have a flat roof, but if you’d rather get a professional in, get a free quote from one of our PMP Approved contractors today.

Insulate your pipes

Insulating your pipes will not only help to keep your water warm, but it will also prevent pipes from freezing and subsequently bursting. Foam insulation tubes are really cheap and can be bought at most hardware and DIY shops, make it a cheap and easy win for improving the sustainability of your home.

Insulate your walls

It’s an expensive step, but well worth it to make your home more efficient and cheaper to run. The investment would soon pay for itself in the savings made in energy bills – especially if you have an older house and solid walls. Not to mention the priceless feeling of dramatically reducing your carbon footprint!

Re-arrange your furniture

Moving your bed or sofa away from your radiators is such a simple trick to ensure that you are getting the full benefit of your heating. In fact, your furniture should not be up against a wall or radiator anyway, as this is a recipe for mould in the winter months!

Reflective radiators

Whilst we’re talking about radiators, another cheap win for getting the most out of your heating bill is buying reflective radiator panels. Cheap to buy and easy to install, these panels reflect the heat back out to the room so that the radiators are not just heating up the wall. You can also ensure your radiators are running efficiently by bleeding them often.

Layer up!

Yes, we know – the obvious and irritating response to anyone wishing to cut down on their heating usage. But in a modern world, it is all too easy to turn up the heating rather than just put on an extra layer, a fluffy pair of socks or a snuggly blanket. Clearly, it is important to have your heating on to keep the mould and cold away, but does it really need to be that warm? Ask yourself this question and maybe refrain from reaching for the thermostat whenever the going gets tough!

Smart heating

The other thing about heating is that it can be hard to time it right. Many people use timers on their thermostat to ensure the heating comes on at selected times, such as when they wake up and when they return from work. Yet this leaves no room for spontaneity or indeed when life gets in the way – what if you work late or have impromptu evening plans?

A smart heating system is a great way to control your heating, wherever you are. Using an app, you can choose exactly when to heat up your home for optimum cosiness upon your return or turn it off when plans change. Some smart heating systems even use the temperate outside to gauge how much energy is needed to heat your home, saving energy and money all round!

Whether you’re thinking of insulating your home or just need your boiler serviced, The Property Maintenance People are here to help you prepare for winter in the most sustainable way. Get a free quote from PMP today.