Keep Your Family Cozy All Season Long
You know it when you feel it…Michigan’s blustery winter wind, which has us all raiding our closets and pulling out hats, scarves and gloves.
It’s official: you have a new mission. After striving to keep your house cool during the summer months, your goal now is to maintain a warm and comfortable home for your family.
So how can you keep your home feeling toasty while minimizing your energy bill?
With over 75 years of experience providing exceptional heating services to our customers, our crew at Matheson can share some smart maneuvers to help keep you feeling cozy through the frigid months.
- Dress in layers and use blankets. When the shivers start kicking in, your first line of defense is your wardrobe. Adding layers boosts your body’s warmth quickly and easily. Blankets can offer another comfy layer when you’re sitting in a chair or relaxing on the sofa.
- Drink warm beverages and foods. Heat your body from the inside with warm drinks like coffee, tea, hot cider or hot cocoa. Soups and stews can also be soothing while helping to keep your body temperature up.
- Caulk and seal cracks in your windows and doors. Take a few minutes to check all of your windows and doors for areas where drafts might be coming in. To combat the cold air, caulk the gaps or replace sealing. This will help keep the warm air in and the cold air out.
- Keep your curtains open during the day and closed at night. When the sun is shining, take advantage of those bright rays to help heat your home. The sun’s warmth filters through your windows, even on the frostiest of days. Once the sun dips below the horizon and the outside air temperature drops even further, close your curtains to preserve that warm indoor air.
- Check to make sure your fireplace flue is closed. If you have a fireplace, an open flue can allow precious warm air to seep out, causing your furnace to work double-time and jacking up your heating bill. Make sure the dampers are closed tightly when there’s no fire burning.
- Keep air vents clear of furniture. Your furnace heats your home by churning out hot air from your vents. When those vents are blocked, the heat has a harder time circulating throughout the house, so be sure to keep all vents open and unblocked by furniture.
- Circulate warm air with your ceiling fan’s reverse setting. We usually only think of using ceiling fans in the summertime, but there’s a way they can help distribute the heat in your home in winter. Switch the fan to rotate in reverse and run it at the lowest speed. Warm air naturally rises, so the fan works by pulling that warmer air down and forcing it toward the floor. The room will feel warmer instantly.
- Invest in a smart thermostat. We are big fans of these! Smart thermostats not only allow you to program temperature settings for different times of day, but they also pick up your home’s heating and cooling patterns and adjust the temperature automatically. For example, if your home is usually empty during the daytime on weekdays, a smart thermostat will adapt to this pattern and automatically lower the temperature while no one is home. Plus, most smart thermostats provide remote access so you can regulate your home’s temperature even when you’re not there. These devices offer more control, and that can mean big savings for you without sacrificing comfort.
- Schedule a tune-up for your furnace. To keep your home feeling toasty, you need to make sure your furnace is running in tip-top shape. This one happens to be our specialty! Schedule a routine maintenance appointment so we can ensure your furnace is operating smoothly and efficiently. Performing regular, thorough, multi-point check-ups can even prolong the life of your furnace.
And if you’re ever in need of heating repairs or a heating installation, our crew is ready for action! Call us at 248.971.2994 to schedule an appointment. We’ll get your furnace up and running again quickly!