Stay Warm and Healthy this Winter with a Properly-Maintained Home

With winter in full force, the city of Toronto isn’t just frozen – it’s under siege by freezing temperatures, snow, ice, hail, and absurdly fast winds. The only grounding feeling beyond the walls of our homes is perhaps the weight of our comically heavy – and very much cumbersome – parkas. Unfortunately, we can’t always be relying on our coats to keep us warm. Ideally, we’ll be able to cozy up to that warm spot right next to our living room vent when we get home.

Sometimes the winter can make mad its way into our living quarters, and that’s when it’s time tend to things around the house. Being able to return to a warm home isn’t just a determinant of our physical health, it impacts our mental health and the ways by which we’re able to feel comfortable in our own skins. If you don’t have access to a well-heated home, it’s time to call in some expert help, or at least find other ways to keep warm.

Follow Through on Basic Housework

After undertaking a variety of household precautions, if your heating system still isn’t up to par, then it’s absolutely time to call in for an extra hand and a professional opinion – whether you’re looking for repair fridge services in Toronto or a thorough test of your home’s heating system, it’s important to understand that there can be many causes to that uncomfortable draft you’re experiencing.

As an appliance repair experts in Toronto will tell you, homes and larger appliances – such as heating systems – are wholly intertwined with each other. Sometimes the ways by which we neglect our homes don’t seem like the culprits causing our own personal cold fronts. Here are a few things you may not have thought to do while attempting to heat your home:

Clean your Gutter

Clear gutters help drain water away from your roof and your house. If they’re clogged, however, especially in colder months, they’re more apt to freeze, causing additional blockages. Blocked gutters can allow melting ice and snow to seep into your roof, or flood your home’s foundation, causing damage and a whole slew of problems to arrive. Beyond enclosing your home in freezing cold temperatures, clogged gutters can give you quite the headache. If it’s safe to do so, take some time before winter hits and clear out your gutters, or work with a trusted roofing professional or contractor to have your gutters cleaned.

Invest in Weather Stripping

Weather stripping is a good way to help seal warm air in and cold air out of your home. Available in almost any hardware store, weather stripping installs quickly around windows and doors and can help prevent air leaks, which are otherwise invisible to the naked eye. That’s why you should check the following parts of your home for leaks or drafts on a regular basis:

• Windows
• Vents and fans
• Plumbing
• Mail chutes
• Electrical and gas lines
• A/C and furnaces

 
If All Else Fails, Try Alternative Heating Methods

While you await professional intervention, you’ll probably want to keep warm in more immediate ways. You can, for instance, warm your bedroom using an old-fashioned but reliable method. While it’s known for its uses in the kitchen, you can actually use soapstone as a makeshift bedwarmer. Because it’s able to hold onto heat so well, soapstone is able to confine the warmth and disperse it through sheets and blankets for hours.

After you heat soapstone in your oven, it’s too hot to carry barehanded. Wrap the slab in a cloth, and put it under the covers a half hour before tucking yourself in. When you hit the sack, leave the soapstone in bed and stay cozy throughout the night. Fortunately, you won’t have to search through antique stores; brand-new soapstone warmers are available through retailers.

In any case, Toronto Refrigeration will have you feeling comfortable in your home as soon as you contact us for assistance. Indeed, we are always poised to meet your needs – call us anytime and you’ll be on your way to a cozy winter in no time at all!