How Do I Cut Down My Home’s Energy Costs?

As homeowners, we’d all like to figure out continuous ways to save on bills and home repairs, right? Well, at Handyman Connection of McKinney, we’d like to remind you of some ways you can cut down on your home’s energy costs. These are some fairly simple tasks you can complete in order to make sure your home is operating at the maximum efficiency, to reduce your energy bills, and to help maintain your home appliances. Check them out below.

1.     Insulation Check

An easy first step in tackling the improvement of your home’s energy efficiency is to climb up in the attic and examine your insulation. Make sure there isn’t any damage and make sure it’s functioning properly by feeling the thickness. If you’re going to take on this task yourself, make sure you are wearing the appropriate protective gear such as gloves, masks, long sleeves, and etc. Otherwise, you can certainly hire a professional to take care of this for you. After your inspection, make sure to quickly jump on any replacements that are necessary as this will definitely help to drive down your home’s energy usage and associated cost.

2.     Appliance Check

Another task to check off your list when looking to improve your home’s energy efficiency is to look into your appliance usage patterns. Major appliances such as water heaters, air conditioning units, and other similar appliances are known for sucking up lots of energy and make up a large portion of your bills. If you’re noticing that the appliances are using too much energy than commonly reported, it may be time to upgrade to newer models. When that time comes, consider high efficiency models. The initial cost might be a little more than what you are willing to pay, but the payback will be returned. High efficiency models can help reduce your usage and bills.

3.     Experiment Check

A fun, cool trick is to play around and experiment by using your appliances at different times in the day to try and measure associated costs and various times of the day. For example, peak hours can increase your bills and usage as everyone is using them at the same time. Play around with it and see if you can notice a difference and apply your learnings to your routine.

4.     Light Bulb Check

Additionally, take a look at the lights and light bulbs you have installed around your house. If you’re still using traditional incandescent bulbs, you may want to consider upgrading to LED light bulbs. The traditional bulb’s heat of the light uses a large portion of its energy. The LED bulbs last much longer, are brighter, and don’t use as much energy.

5.     Inspection Check

Lastly, our crew here in McKinney would recommend a full energy inspection by a professional. That way the professional can identify any problem areas you may have missed in your initial inspections. Additionally, we’d recommend a plumbing inspection to check for any leaks. This will help ensure the efficiency of your plumbing system, help to identify any future major problems before they become major problems, and reduce your energy and water bills.

At Handyman Connection of McKinney, our goal is to help make your house a home. We do that by helping you tackle any and all of your home maintenance projects regardless of how large or small your project may be. Give us a call if you have any questions about how to cut down your home’s energy costs or if you’d like help with a project today.