Collaborative Post
Most families can make a house cosier for winter with a few low-cost changes to gaps, curtains, floors and radiators, and many take an hour or two. Doors, windows and bare floors are where warmth usually escapes, and radiators on outside walls lose some of their output to the brickwork behind them. Children spend much of the day on the floor, by the window or in the hallway, so the upgrades worth making are the ones you notice in the places your family actually uses.
Hold the Warmth in the Rooms You Use
Draught excluders along door bottoms, brush strips on letterboxes and sealant around loose frames cost very little and change how a hallway feels almost immediately. Thick or thermally lined curtains drawn at dusk add another layer over the glass, and an existing pair can be given a thermal liner instead of being replaced. Shutting the doors to rooms nobody is using keeps warm air where the family is sitting, and a self-adhesive foam strip around the loft hatch takes only minutes to fit. Newer glazing is the bigger upgrade many families weigh up, and upvc windows with sealed double glazing hold warmth well and keep every room comfortable through the colder months. Ask for several quotes, check the frames suit the age of the house, and leave the trickle vents open afterwards so a well-sealed home still gets enough fresh air.
Warm Up Floors and Seating
Bare floorboards and tiles let out an estimated tenth of a home’s heat, so a thick rug over a decent underlay makes a visible difference, particularly in a living room where children sit and play. A wool or fleece throw folded over each sofa arm, plus a few floor cushions, gives everyone something to pull on before anyone reaches for the thermostat.
Put the largest rug in the room used most, choose one with a non-slip backing so it stays put when children run across it in socks, and tuck smaller ones beside beds so feet land on something soft when they get up. In a playroom or kitchen, foam play mats laid over tiles are cheap, easy to wipe clean and noticeably warmer underfoot than the bare floor beneath.
Get More From Radiators and Lighting
Foil panels fixed to the wall behind a radiator reflect heat back into the room, though kitchen foil does less than purpose-made radiator foil, and the gain is smaller on internal walls. Leave a gap in front of each radiator, because sofas pushed against it and long curtains hung over it soak up heat you’re paying for. If a radiator stays cool at the top, bleeding it with a key takes a few minutes and gets the whole panel working again.
Warm-white bulbs and a couple of lamps placed at low level in the corners make a living room feel cosier in the evening without adding any heat at all, and they’re easier on the eye than a bright overhead light. Start with the room your family uses most, fix the gaps there first, and add the other changes as the weather turns colder.
