5 Effective Home Comfort Upgrades for Homeowners

If there’s one thing that all of us want to feel inside of our homes, it’s comfortable. And comfort doesn’t just come from the security features that we have or the kind of furniture that we purchase. It also has to do with the temperature inside the various rooms of our house – especially during the winter and summer seasons.

If you’d like to know some of the things that you can do in order to effectively and economically provide home comfort upgrades to your home, here are five proven ways to do just that.

Conduct an energy audit. One reason why a lot of people are not able to keep the rooms in their house at an ideal temperature is because there are places near their doors and windows that are leaking air. One way to know if that’s the case in your house is to conduct an energy audit. You can hire a professional auditor to come and inspect your home or you can conduct one yourself. Energy.gov is one website that will walk you through the steps. Just go to the site and put “DIY energy audit” in the search field.

Install some more insulation in your attic. If the last time you looked at the insulation inside of your attic it appeared to be a bit worn or there were spaces where insulation was actually missing, that could also be affecting the comfort level of your house. Remember, a part of insulation’s purpose is to basically serve as a buffer between the temperatures outside and what you set your thermostat to be on the inside. So, in order to stay at the comfort level that you want, make sure that your insulation is 12″ thick and made out of an eco-friendly material like cotton, sheep’s wool or rigid polystyrene.

Get some exhaust fans and a dehumidifier. If you were to read an article that talked about things to know about sealing air leaks, one of the things that it might mention is the fact that air leaks can increase humidity levels. When that happens, it can make the rooms in your house an uncomfortable temperature. Aside from sealing the leaks up, something else that you can do to reduce humidity is to install exhaust fans in your kitchen and bedroom and to also put a dehumidifier in one of the more common areas of your home. Both of these tips will help to rid your home of unnecessary moisture.

Consider adding a zoning system. Another effective and economical thing that you can do to make your home more comfortable is to install a zoning system. What this does is make it possible for your house to have several thermometers connected to your HVAC unit rather than one. That way, you can control the temperature from room to room. This can help you save on energy costs by doing so.

Create an open floor plan. Something that is becoming more and more popular with home design is open floor plans. It provides more space. It is attractive. It also increases ventilation which ultimately improves at-home comfort. For tips on how to create an open floor plan in the house that you currently live in, visit Home.HowStuffWorks.com and put “ways to alter your existing floor plan” in the search field.