Summer is a great time to complete long-awaited home improvement projects. This summer, you should take steps to prevent heat and air from escaping outside. These simple improvements will make it easier and more cost effective for you to heat and cool your home. 

Increase The Insulation In Your House

One of the most effective ways to reduce the amount of air escaping from your home is by increasing the insulation in your home. If you live in an older home, your house probably doesn't have as much installation as a home built in the past decade does. If you want your house to hold in air the same way a newer house does, usually one of the best ways to achieve that is by increasing the insulation in your home.

The first place you should start is your attic. Heat tends to escape out of your attic in the winter, and heat can get unnecessarily trapped there in the summer time. If you want to reduce the overall air loss in your house, consider adding a layer of insulation to your attic.

You can lay the insulation on top of the layer that is already present if that insulation looks like it is in good shape, or you can remove all the old insulation and install an entirely new insulation system. If you have the time, you can complete this job on your own or hire a contractor to complete this job for you. 

Another thing to look into is how much insulation is inside of the walls in your house. Most homes are created with a space inside of the walls where the insulation should go. Over the years, the quality of insulation has only increased. To make the job easier, you can use spray insulation to increase the insulation in your walls. Once again, you can also always have a contractor help you with this job.

Improve The Seals Around Your Doors

Another area where air tends to escape in a house is around the exterior doors in your home. Luckily, with a quick trip to the home improvement store, you should be able to easily seal your doors.

First, you need to purchase weather stripping. Weather stripping is generally about a fourth of an inch wide and about half as thick. It goes around the edge of your door. When your door is shut, the weather stripping seals your door from the outside, and prevents air from makings its around the edges of your door and into your home.

Second, you should also examine your door stop. If the door stop on your door is loose, old, or does not align with the floor, you may need to replace it as well. This will prevent air from escaping from the bottom of your doors.

Look For Other Areas Of Air Loss

Finally, you should walk around your home and check for other areas of air and heat loss.

• Outlets: You should check your electrical outlets and makes sure that they are secured tightly against your walls. If they are not, just use a screwdriver to secure them. You should also purchase safety covers for your electrical outlets; this will prevent air loss as well.
• Windows: You should make sure that all the seals around your windows are still in good condition. Just like with your doors, heat loves to escape out of your windows. You can purchase a clear sealant to fill in any gaps or cracks that you find. 
• Fireplace: If you have a fireplace, make sure that you damper works properly. If you have doors to your fireplace, make sure they still seal correctly. 
• Plumbing: Make sure that all of your plumbing is well sealed. If you have open space around you pipes that open up into your basement or crawl space, consider sealing off these locations. You can use foam insulator to seal off the holes around your pipes, or you can wrap your pipes with pipe insulation. 

Walk through your house and see if you can find any additional area of air loss.

Take a weekend this summer and invest some time in to prevent air loss in your home. By doing one or all of the steps above, you will increase the insulation in your house and decrease the amount of money that you have to spend on heating and coolings costs. Your air conditioning and heater will be much more effective if your house is properly sealed. 

To learn more, contact a company like RA Styron Heating and Air Conditioning.