A Dozen Easy Ways to Keep Cold Air from Entering Your House

There’s nothing like returning to a warm home when it’s freezing outside.

Yet cold air has many sneaky ways to follow you into your home. Fortunately, there are some easy ways to keep yours toasty all winter long. These 12 tips will help you keep cold air from entering your house.

1. Secure the sash locks along all the windows in your house to clamp them down as much as possible. You can also seal windows that won’t be opened until spring with temporary caulking.
2. Install a door sweep along exterior doors to help keep cold air from entering your house.
3. Put up extra thick curtains. Consider buying ones with thermal lining for extra insulation.
4. Seal gaps between doors and side jambs with long pieces of weather stripping.
5. Invest in a chimney balloon if you have an infrequently used fireplace. They’re inexpensive and will help keep cold air from entering your house and warm air from escaping—just make sure to remove them before you build a fire.
6. Close the doors on unused or seldom-used rooms.
7. Throw a rug on bare floors, which can account for as much as 10 percent of heat loss in a house.
8. Squirt some silicone-based filler between any cracks or gaps in your flooring.
9. Insulate attics and lofts with inexpensive foam insulation. It can be a DIY job—just remember to wear a facemask, goggles and protective clothing.
10. Place plastic covers over air conditioning ducts.
11. Check to make sure there are flaps over clothes dryer and bath fan vents. Without them, you have a large hole that is constantly letting cold air enter your home.
12. Put up pictures or a mirror on exterior walls—doing so can help insulate walls from the outside air.

These tips don’t take much effort, time or money—and the payoff of a warm home can’t be beat.