Quick Fall Fixes To Make Your House Cozy
Though much of the country has been unseasonably warm so far this month, autumn has already arrived in Windham, Maine, where Saturday Early Show contributor Kaile Warren visited recently to demonstrate some easy ways to make sure that the cold air stays outside and your home remains warm and comfortable.
Before you head to the nearest home improvement store, think about tackling these projects this weekend:
Kaile suggests covering a wall- or window-mounted air conditioner with a reinforced polyethylene cover. The cover will prevent cold air from entering your home while also keeping water from gathering and freezing in the unit.
Because road salt and sand gets rolled into your driveway snow, it is important to mark an area for piling it up. You will want to consider an area where spring run off will have a minimal effect on your landscaped areas. And, plow operators do multiple driveways, so it is impossible to remember every plant location, so, Kaile suggests, mark 'em and save 'em!
Faucet freeze-up is expensive, aggravating and totally unnecessary, Kaile says. Use a faucet protector to insure you do not have to deal with drips in the spring.
This one doesn't require any purchases or tools: Almost everyone has had a storm door get blown open, which often damages the frame. Most of the time, this could have been prevented by simply adjusting the tension on your door's closer.
Kaile says you can dodge the draft by insulating the back of your homes exterior wall plates. Your home's electrical wiring becomes a conduit through which drafts can travel -- exiting out into room through the receptacle. In older homes, you will want to do interior walls as well.
National code requires ceiling fans be at least 7 feet from the floor. Using a fan in the summer will reduce your energy consumption by 40 percent; reversing the fan for the winter will reduce energy costs by 10 percent. Kaile suggest that you run your fan on a low speed in the winter to prevent drafting.