Working from home certainly has its perks. For example, you don't have to get out of your nightwear to do it, while getting distracted by co-workers chatting in the background is no longer a common occurrence. However, the work-from-home life requires you to meet extra heating costs.
According to reports mentioned by the South Wales Argus, working from home could see your energy bills increase by as much as 18%. Fortunately, the following measures for heating your residential property could prove wonderfully cost-effective in the long run.
How to Keep Warm at Home in Winter
Have raised loft boarding installed in your home
Incidentally, South Wales also happens to be one of the many UK areas where Instaloft provides a great loft boarding service. One reason why it's great is that it involves the installation of raised - rather than standard - loft boarding, thereby allowing insulation in the loft enough room to breathe.
As a result, you can not only keep this insulation working effectively but also potentially use the loft itself as your home office. Result!
Avoid covering up windows in your home office
Assuming that these windows aren't somewhere - like on the bottom floor - they would pose a threat to your privacy if you skimped on the window furnishings, you can feel free to open blinds put in place for these windows.
The sunlight that consequently streams into your home will warm it up, but you should remember to close these blinds when it's dark, as they will contribute to your home's insulation.
Draught-proof your home
PlumbNation heating expert Jordan Chance tells Metro.co.uk: "Stopping heat from escaping through unwanted gaps is one of the cheapest and most effective ways to save energy and money."
As windows and doors are common culprits for draughts, you should particularly prioritise checking these for gaps. Then, you could block those by using draught-proofing strips.
Draughts can emerge from floor gaps, too - and, for filling those, Chance advocates using "flexible silicone-based filler".
Have a close look at your radiators
One reason why you should is that, if you aren't cleaning your radiators weekly, dust could too easily accumulate on them and, as a result, prevent heat from escaping them effectively. Hence, the radiators will be forced to work harder simply to warm the room to the same extent as before.
As clothes left placed over the radiators can similarly block the heat they generate, you should think about drying your wet clothes elsewhere in the home.
Be careful where you position your furniture
You might have positioned your home office chair's back so that it is facing a radiator, perhaps out of a belief that this radiator will now do its bit to keep you warm throughout the working day.
On the contrary, however, this will actually be preventing the radiator's warmth from getting past the chair's back and through to you, the intended recipient of this heat. So, it might be a good idea for you to place your chair in such a way that the radiator is parallel with one of its sides instead.
