Preparing our home for winter the green way

In a recent post, small Footprints advised us on many ways to prepare our homes for winter.

From cleaning out the fireplace to preserving foods, there are lots of practical ways we can ensure we’re healthy and cosy during the colder months.

One of the tiny things I’ve been meaning to get around for for years (yes, years!) is to put a thick curtain in front of the porch door, and this week’s change the world Wednesday challenge is perfect for getting me on track.

We have a double glazed door, but it opens into an unheated porch which has another draught proofed door that opens into the home.

You’d think we’d be plenty warm enough, but it’s surprising how much cold air comes into the house through that door from the unheated porch.

We had a chat with Little Miss green this week and asked her to be mindful of shutting the porch door – she’s often in a rush to go out and pulling the door closed isn’t easy as it kind of creates a vacuum which makes it difficult to shut. But I think a thick curtain for evening time would make a difference. This week I’ll be browsing the charity shops to see what I can find.

Another thing we’ve done on the insulation side is a complete experiment. You remember we lined our conservatory curtains with space blankets?

Well this week we lined the entire ceiling with space blankets too. It looks kinda fun with our silver ceiling!

Friends have been asking “What’s with the ceiling?” thinking I’m reliving my 70’s upbring with a love of disco and silver lurex but we figured it might help to keep the heat in the home. The trouble is, of course, it also blocks OUT solar warmth from the sun coming through the roof.

However, I’ve noticed the sun is already pretty low this year so the sun comes through the windows early morning, giving us a bit of free heat.

The ceiling is where we lose the most heat as it’s clear plastic, so we’ll see what happens.

The other thing small footprints has tapped on my conscience about is our back door. It really needs replacing as you can literally feel cold air whistling around the frame, even when locked and shut. Although I’m closing the curtains at dusk there will still be cold air coming in through the day, so after I hit publish on this post I’m going to find the number of the company who replaced our windows and call them in for a quote.

What about you – what needs doing on your home to prepare it for winter?