Keeping Your Home Cooling Costs Down
Posted on: 16 January 2017
When you are a homeowner, keeping expenses down is often one of your highest priorities. However, while you value keeping your home maintenance costs as low as possible, you may not know all of the different ways that you can and should make adjustments to your home to do just that. For example, if you are looking to reduce your cooling costs, you might be stumped as far as where to start. Get to know a few of the different ways that you can keep your home cooling costs down so that you can get started making adjustments as soon as possible and see those bills get lower.
Upgrade to a Smart Thermostat
Your thermostat is the control center of your cooling and heating systems. As such, it is an important part of keeping your cooling costs down. If you want to make sure that your thermostat is doing everything it can for you, replace your standard thermostat with a new, smart thermostat.
Making this simple upgrade can help you to better monitor and control the temperature in your home. Smart thermostats connect to your smart phone, computer, or tablet via an app. That way, if it is summer and your forgot to turn the temperature on your thermostat up a bit so you are not cooling your house needlessly when nobody is home, you can open the app and adjust the thermostat from work or elsewhere.
Smart thermostats are also learning thermostats that will begin to automatically adjust to your schedule and change the temperature setting based on times when you are home and not home to ensure that you are using your heating and cooling systems as efficiently as possible. This helps to reduce your cooling costs as soon as you start using your new smart thermostat.
Consider Changing the Color of Your Roof
Another way to reduce your cooling costs actually has to do with your roof. If you want your cooling system to have to run less, one of the best ways is to ensure that your home is not absorbing as much thermal energy through your roof. This can be accomplished by changing your roofing color.
Unless your roof is in bad shape and in need of replacement, you do not even need to install a new roof to achieve this goal. Instead, you simply need to purchase paint designed specifically for roofing in a light color (like white or a beige color). Lighter roofing materials reflect more light from the sun than they absorb. This reflective nature keeps your roof from taking in light which creates heat that gets into your home through the roof and attic space.
Choose paint that is as light as possible for your roof. If you do not want to change the color of your roof but still want some benefits, you can instead put a coat of reflective sealant on your roof. This helps to prevent thermal energy absorption and will also make a difference on your cooling costs.
Use these tips and talk to a contractor like D & R Service Inc about other changes you can make around your home to keep your cooling costs down. Once you begin making small adjustments around your house, you will begin to notice a significant dip in your cooling costs that will make you a happier and more efficient homeowner.
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