Pro tips to warm up your home for winter.

Winterize your home with useful tips from Total Construction

With the winter chill fast upon us, it’s the perfect time to be proactive and prep your home to save on your energy bills. While there are dozens of things you can do to get your home ready for winter, we’ve trimmed down the list to a few simple and highly effective steps.

Change your furnace filter. This simple action is cheap, quick and serves a double purpose: enabling a more efficient, cost-saving flow of air through your home, and filtering your home from airborne bacteria, mold, viruses and pollen. With your windows sealed tight during the cold months, the quality of your indoor air can make a vast difference. For best results, avoid fiberglass filters and seek electrostatic and HEPA filters.

Turn down your water heater and thermostat. Most water heaters are set to 140º F—an often-needless amount of heat that converts to steam you don’t use anyways. Lower your water heater to 120º to reduce your costs by as much as 10%. Want to lower energy bills even more? Lower your thermostat. For every degree you go down, you can save an additional 3% on your monthly heating. Bypass high thermostat temps by wearing your favorite sweater instead—and the results will show.

Tax credits are everywhere. You could enjoy federal tax credits up to 30% when you do things like upgrade your insulation, install energy-efficient windows, or install an energy-efficient furnace—just to name a few. Contact a construction contractor for further advice on special offers that you can utilize. You’ll also be insulating your wallet in the process.

Install storm doors and windows. A new storm door can increase energy efficiency by more than 40%. And storm windows are no different in their effectiveness against cold winds. As you know, poor-quality windows and doors can become a freeway for cold air, which zaps your heat efficiency. A contractor can tell you the best options available.

Insulate your water pipes. Wherever your water pipes are warm to the touch, insulation is likely needed. Insulating your pipes not only serves as a preventative measure for pipe bursts, but also reduces the cost you pay for hot water. Ask a local hardware store for pipe insulation that you can install yourself—quickly and painlessly. You can also receive federal tax credits in the process.

Find a solid contractor. When it comes to fortifying your home for winter, nobody helps to better prepare you, answer your questions, or audit the energy use of your home like a good construction contractor. In addition to serving homes in Omaha and surrounding areas for decades, Total Construction has received the 2015 Better Business Bureau Integrity Award. Whatever your needs, or your queries, we’re here to help.

402.572.7457 | mytotalconstruction.com