5 Inexpensive Ways to Improve Your Home's Energy Efficiency

If you’re like most people, lowering your energy bills and increasing your home’s energy efficiency is a big priority for you. The good news is there are ways to do that which are simple to implement but that can still have a big impact. Here are five of them.

Turn Off the Lights

This counts as one of the simplest ways to save some energy and some money. When you leave a room in your home, turn off the lights. If you’re working in your home office during the day, work by the light of the sun. When you’re not burning the lights all day, your home’s energy efficiency will be better overall.

Get Good Insulation

A lack of good insulation means that energy can easily escape your home. It’s also important to not just put insulation in the walls and the ceiling. Crawl space insulation plays an important role in this equation, too.

Invest in Energy-Efficient Lights

LED lights are made to be energy efficient. According to Energy.gov, your home’s lighting makes up about 15% of your home’s energy usage. By putting in LED lighting, you’ll save over $200 a year in energy costs.

Turn Down the Heat

Turning down your heat, particularly at night, counts as another simple way to lower your energy use. At night when you’re under the covers sleeping, you don’t need as much heat in your home.

Another option that you have is to use an electric blanket to heat your bed at night instead of using a space heater. This allows you to sleep under warm covers. It's also something that's easy to control. All you need to do is run the electric blanket for a few minutes to heat up your sheets before you go to sleep. Then just turn the blanket off. No need for a space heater.

Cut Down on Space Heater Usage

Your space heaters can suck away a lot of energy and drive up your energy bills. A better route to go might be to choose a room to spend time in, like the den or your bedroom and heat that room, while lowering the heat in the rest of the house.

Final Thoughts

Lowering your energy output doesn’t have to be a complicated affair. As this blog post demonstrates, doing something simple like turning out the lights can make a big difference over time. Doing more of these activities together makes the most impact of all.

How to Prepare Your House for a Hurricane

Hurricanes are mighty tropical storms that threaten coastal communities worldwide. They can cause severe damage to your home due to winds that can reach over 150 miles per hour and devastating rainfall. Thankfully, you can take some precautionary measures to limit the damage. Here’s how to prepare your house for a hurricane.

1. Review Your Insurance

Before you make any changes to your home, you should first review your homeowner’s insurance policy. Understand what it covers and what it doesn’t to determine if you need to increase your coverage. Most insurance companies in regions prone to hurricanes should cover the damages, but you still need to double-check to ensure your home is protected.

2. Gather Supplies

A comprehensive insurance policy will help you recover from the hurricane, but it won’t protect you from the storm itself. You must gather the right supplies and prepare to spend several days bunkered inside your house. Here is a list of everything you might need:

• First-aid kit

• Prescription medicines

• Bottled water

• Nonperishable food

• Radio

• Flashlight

• Spare batteries

• Portable phone charger

• Toolbox

• Matches or a lighter

• Fire extinguisher

• Waterproof bags

• Duct tape

• Local maps

• Cash

These items provide the sustenance and security to make it through a hurricane. If the power goes out, you still have heat and lighting. You’ll have plenty of provisions if you can’t make it to a grocery store. Medical care and communication are also covered.

3. Reinforce Your Home’s Vulnerable Areas

Hurricanes damage homes in many ways, but they cause the most harm through several familiar avenues, such as the roof, windows, doorways and other crevices around the house. Here’s what you can do to reinforce each area.

• Roof: Inspect the roof for any loose shingles and repair them. Clean out the gutters to allow for proper water drainage. You should also consider buying truss tie-downs to help secure the roof to the rest of the building.

• Windows: Lock your windows and board them up with plywood. Tape the plywood edges so no water flows through the cracks.

• Doorways: Stuff the cracks underneath your doors with draft stoppers and towels to prevent water from seeping in.

• Garage: You can also block off your garage door with towels or purchase a brace to prevent it from flying away with the wind.

• Basement: If the hurricane floods your home, the water will accumulate in the basement first. Remove all valuable items and bring them to the upper floors.

• Pipes and cables: Anywhere a pipe or cable enters your home is an opportunity for water to sneak through. You can’t do much to block these cracks, but you can closely monitor them and manage the slow leaks throughout the storm.

Reinforcing and monitoring these areas will reduce the amount of water that enters the building. If all goes well, the hurricane will pass, and your home’s interior will remain dry and safe. 

4. Clean up Your Yard

One of a hurricane’s most impressive qualities is its ability to turn harmless outdoor items into weapons of destruction with just one strong gust of wind. With that in mind, you need to do a lot of outdoor maintenance around your house.

First, park your cars in your garage if you have enough room. If they must stay outside, ensure they’re out of the reach of any trees and activate the emergency brakes. Trim all branches close to your house that might cause damage, then remove all dead branches, loose stones and other debris from your yard. 

All your outdoor furniture should come inside, or you can secure it to the ground with deck down anchors or another device. Potted plants also belong indoors. Trim what vegetation you can so it won’t tear out of the earth as easily. If you have a pool, do not cover it. Pool coverings are thin and can easily break from flying debris. 

Your family should comb over your property one last time to pick up any leftover items lying around before the storm hits. Ideally, there should be no loose objects in your yard.

5. Have Multiple Power Sources

Most hurricanes are strong enough to disable entire power grids, so you must prepare for this situation by installing multiple energy sources within your home. A surge protector is a good start. It will protect all your electronic appliances from storm surges, which are common during hurricanes. 

A generator serves as a fantastic second line of defense because it runs on propane or natural gas. Even the smallest models will keep your refrigerator running and air conditioning on if your primary power source goes out and the surge protector fails.

6. Plan an Evacuation Route

You must know where to go if the local government orders evacuation. Consider these factors when mapping out your route:

• Make for higher ground and move further inland.

• Avoid high-traffic areas like interstate highways. Try to follow side streets as much as you can.

• Plan to stop at a grocery store or gas station if they are still open.

An evacuation alarm can signal at any moment as the storm approaches, so you should outline the route in advance and keep a bag of supplies on standby for a quick exit. Fill up all your vehicles with gas well before the storm arrives, whether authorities have called for an evacuation or not. 

Prepare Your Home for Hurricane Season

Winter has already begun to pass, which means warmer days and the start of hurricane season are just around the corner. Prepare your home for these harsh tropical storms by following the above instructions and gathering the necessary supplies. You might just save your family’s lives.

How You Can Help Your Home Better Weather Wear And Tear

Since your home is the biggest purchase you're likely to make in your lifetime, you want to do all you can to keep it in fantastic condition. Unfortunately, Mother Nature may have other ideas along the way. From sleet and snow to rain, wind, and much more, the elements and other things can take quite a toll on your home. If you want to keep your home protected from the wear and tear of weather, here are some things you can try.

Repair Any Roof Damage

When high winds come along, the result can be shingles that get loose and leave your roof. Should this happen, your home will be subjected to possible water damage. If the leaks get bad enough, they could impact your home's interior as well as your foundation. By checking your roof for missing shingles or other signs of damage, you can get repairs made before more problems develop.

Get Rid of the Pests

While roof damage is something that can be obvious, having pests that are wreaking havoc with your home is something that's almost invisible. Should you have an office in your home, you may want to work with a pest control company to set up regular inspections for termites, ants, rodents, and other unwelcome visitors. Since pests such as these often seek out shelter in homes when cold weather arrives, be proactive in this area.

Power Wash Your Home's Exterior

Twice per year, you may want to give your home's exterior a good power washing. Along with keeping your home looking great, the power wash will wash away dirt and grime. This can be crucial to keeping your home's siding, paint, or other exterior areas in good condition, which if left unchecked could find you dealing with outside areas of your home that may be rotting or in need of other repairs.

Clean Out the Gutters

Last but not least, take some time to climb a ladder and clean out your home's gutters. While it's not a fun task to do, it is very important that it be done on a regular basis. Should you allow leaves and other debris to accumulate in your guttering, the result will be clogged gutters and downspouts. Thus, the next time a heavy rain comes around, water will be at the bottom of your home's foundation, rather than going down the downspout. Ultimately, your home's foundation will be damaged.

Once you take these steps, you'll be doing all you can to keep your home in great shape. By doing so, you'll gain peace of mind and save yourself from having unexpected repair bills.

4 Innovative Ideas to Consider When Renovating Your Bathroom

You've finally decided to renovate your bathroom, and you're now planning out the details. Whether the bathroom is in need of serious restoration or you're looking to make a few changes, such as considering some upgrades that make the most sense in terms of both aesthetics and practicality.

Walk-in Shower

Adding a walk-in shower to the bathroom seems like a purely aesthetic move, especially if you’ve had a combination shower and tub this entire time, but this feature also has some practical benefits. A walk-in shower is easier and safer for individuals who are elderly or who have mobility issues. Even when you don't have these concerns now, installing a walk-in shower during bathroom renovations could help you later on in life or simply prevent you from slipping and falling in the present day. Another option, if the bathroom has the space, is to add a bathtub so you don’t lose the choice of taking a shower or a bath.

Safety Grab Bars

A bathroom is a slippery place, which means that you and all members of your family are at risk of falling. This hazard is particularly dangerous for the elderly. When you're making a list of bathrooms renovations, don't forget to add grab bars that help you to get into and out of the tub or shower. Grab bars can also be useful by the toilet and along the wall so that individuals can safely walk across the tile.

Double Sink

You've probably seen luxurious double sinks in home magazines; now is the time to get your own. Even when the bathroom is on the smaller side, you still might be able to have a double sink if you get creative. A double sink is particularly useful if you have multiple children who share one bathroom. Instead of constantly fighting over who gets to brush their teeth first, your kids can wash up in tandem.

Mold Remediation

As you're thinking about all of the ways in which you want to renovate the bathroom, aesthetic features are likely coming to mind. However, the elements lurking behind the walls also need to be addressed. If the bathroom has a problem with mold, now is the time to invest in professional remediation services. Mold can make your brand new bathroom immediately appear unsightly. Another serious problem is that mold can be dangerous for your health.

A renovation of your bathroom is a splendid idea that will help you to love your home even more and to increase the potential sale price of the living space. Ultimately, after seeing how these renovations seriously improve one bathroom in the house, you might decide to update all of the bathrooms throughout the home.