Here's your winter window checklist
This story is provided and presented by our sponsor.
As the weather gets colder, it can start to feel like you are living in an ice box. Here are some tips to keep you and your house toasty through the winter months.
Take an Energy Assessment
If you haven't already, conduct an energy assessment to find out where you can save the most, and consider making an investment for long-term energy savings. While a professional home energy audit is the best way to determine where your home is losing energy and where you can save, you can conduct your own simple but diligent walk-through and spot many problems in any type of house. This "do-it-yourself" home energy audit will not be as thorough as a professional home energy assessment, but it can help you pinpoint some of the easier areas to address. Expert energy-efficiency assessors can use certain devices to show where energy loss is in the home. Be sure to locate air leaks, check insulation, and inspect heating and cooling equipment.
Take Advantage of Heat from the Sun
During sunny days keep your curtains and blinds open. However, closing your blinds during times when your home is not getting direct sunlight helps keep the heat in. If heat can come in through a window for 4-5 hours a day, it can also leave through the same window for the other 19 – 20 hours that are left.
Replacing Windows
If your home has very old and/or inefficient windows, it might be more cost-effective to replace them than to try to improve their energy efficiency. New, energy-efficient windows eventually pay for themselves through lower heating and cooling costs, and sometimes even lighting costs.
Read more from America's Window on making smart home improvement decisions
When properly selected and installed, energy-efficient windows can help minimize your heating, cooling, and lighting costs. Improving window performance in your home involves design, selection, and installation.
Before selecting new windows for your home, determine what types of windows will work best and where to improve your home's energy efficiency. It's a good idea to understand the energy performance ratings of windows so you’ll know what energy performance ratings you need for your windows based on your climate and the home's design.
For labeling energy-efficient windows, ENERGY STAR has established minimum energy performance rating criteria by climate. However, these criteria don't account for a home's design, size or location of each window in relation to the direction of solar heat gain, such as window orientation.
Windows are an important element in passive solar home design, which uses solar energy at the site to provide heating, cooling, and lighting for a house. Passive solar design strategies vary by building location and regional climate, but the basic window guidelines remain the same—select, orient, and size glass to maximize solar heat gain in winter and minimize it in summer.
A representative from a local company like America’s Windows can help with all your winter window needs, ranging from inspections to replacements.
Sources
This story is presented by our sponsor America's Window.