7 Ways to Winterize a Building

An unpleasant fact of life is that a lot of the energy in your structure or commercial structure spent on heating is wasted due to failing insulation and lack thereof. If you address a lot of the issues you will have a chance to make that a thing of the past, so consider what you can do to make it happen. With the proper insulation, your structure and its HVAC system will be much easier to work with and they won’t waste as much energy trying to keep your building warm. The biggest consumers of energy happen to be large appliances such as freezers, water heaters, dishwashers and washing machines, but HVAC systems can also eat up a lot of energy when they are working with poor insulation. You can work on this before the winter season, allowing you to install all of these and to deal with house cleaning when the job is done. Be careful when working as you may need to perform upholstery cleaning and carpet cleaning if you work with foam. The following examples will explain how you can winterize your building properly to avoid any issues up ahead:

Air conditioning covers. This is a pretty inexpensive and fairly easy solution you can work with, especially since this type of AC protection can keep cold air from entering gaps where the air intake is located. When you install air conditioners you will often need to deal with areas that were initially not meant for such a setup, especially in old structures, so you will need to address the issue to keep your energy bills down.

Use weather strips. These are essentially rubber, plastic or foam strips you can use to seal your windows, possessing an adhesive back side you can use to attach them. A fairly inexpensive solution that helps you caulk up any cracks and gaps around the doors and windows of your structure, as well as spaces where your pipes and wires enter the walls. This will help eliminate your structure’s heat loss as much as possible without going too far in terms of expenses and you can do most of that by yourself without needing professional help.

Use draft blockers. The use of draft blockers is often needed when the clearance under your door is too large. These are more or less foam cylinders that are placed underneath a door. You can find them in various sizes and styles that offer a nice and low price solution you can really work with without breaking the bank. You will need to remove them when you’re dealing with house cleaning and carpet cleaning, but the greatest thing is you can still put them back.

Install Storm windows. These are a good solution to waterproof your structure if it sees frequent storms in the area. These can be costly when installed, but it will be a great addition to your structure in such cases. They can cost quite a bit but it will be well worth the effort to have them installed. A plastic sheet or film that covers the window and blocks off water during a storm is what some of those windows are essentially.

Install Heat reflectors. These are often installed behind radiators and other such heat sources to reflect the heat away from the walls, thus making heating more efficient. This will help with things but you will still need to consider using them strategically and only when you have radiators.

Using reflective window film. This is a useful and fairly easy to install solution that will stop heat dissipation, essentially thin plastic sheet that adheres to the surface of a window. They help to reflect the heat generated inside the room and keeping it at a constant temperature. The only downside is that the film will leave your windows murky, so you would do well to keep that in mind.

Making use of programmable thermostats. These are part of most HVAC systems that allow you to work on conserving energy and keep up the constant temperature of your structure. The thermostats will eliminate your need to keep track of when you want to keep the system running or not.