Keeping your home cozy
When you walk into your front door from a cold day, are you greeted with a warm coziness? Or, on the other hand, do you feel like you need to turn up the thermostat a few degrees? If after an hour you get home you’re just taking off your winter coat, it’s time to address the issue. This goes the other way, as well - if you find yourself drenched in sweat on a hot August afternoon, your house isn’t going to feel very “homey” at all.
Smart thermostats
There are a couple of things at play here to consider. First, think about using smart technology to keep your house at appropriate temperatures throughout the day depending on your schedule. Installing a smart thermostat will reduce your utility bills and help you feel at home as soon as you unlock that front door each day. This doesn’t have to be difficult, and you’ll see an immediate drop in your utility bill as an added bonus. If you and your family are out of the house each day from 8 to 5, as an example, you can set your thermostat to be at cooler temps during the hours you are gone, and warm up appropriately before you get home. This reduces the need to hike up the temperature hotter than you actually want just to get the home warmed up, and you can set the temperature to automatically decrease a few degrees around the time that you’ll be heading to bed. While it’s not decorative, keeping a home an appropriate temperature goes a long way in making guests and family feel comfortable. There are many smart technology options on the market for your thermostat, so consider what features you find most necessary.
Insulation
If your heat pump or air conditioner is working overtime to keep your house’s temp fairly constant, it might be time to look into some insulation options. While you can readily install your own smart thermostat, leave the spray foam insulation to the professionals, like https://www.insulatekansascity.com/spray-foam-insulation/. You might be saying, “but installing new insulation is such a mess! Do I really need to?” If you go the route of spray insulation, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how little of a mess it makes - there is no need to remove walls. Instead, the insulation is often blown in by small holes at the top of the wall. Another huge benefit is that mice and other rodents that love to make beds in traditional insulation don’t have that option when it’s spray foam blown into place. So, not only will your home stay warmer you’ll also reduce the chance of inviting pests into your walls.
Lock and key
Imagine grabbing three bags of groceries from the trunk of your car, waddling up to the front door, and fishing into your pocket for your keys while trying to balance the bags without dropping a carton of eggs. We’ll all been there. Taking just one trip into the house with groceries feels like a competition, and when you succeed without dropping anything, it feels like you’ve won.
Now, imagine doing the same thing, but instead of fishing for your keys, you’ve already unlocked your front door from your smartphone as you sit in your dry car parked in your driveway. One less obstacle to your grocery-carrying competition. With smart locks, also called keyless entry, you can feel relaxed knowing that if you forgot to lock the door on your way out, you can easily do it from the office by a quick tap of your smartphone screen.
Expecting guests or need a dog sitter to check on your pets? Most smart lock options allow guests to have their own code that you can enable or disable as needed. Now instead of instructing your guests where to find the key under the rock outside, they just need to arrive and walk on in. This will make your guests feel welcome almost immediately. Not to mention, there are no more kids forgetting their keys!
Just like smart thermostats, there are many options for keyless entry into your home. The most popular brands are Schlage and Nest, but there are plenty to choose from, so weigh which features you find most useful. They range in cost from about $50 to $200 depending on the brand and features associated.
Reduce road noise
If you live on a noisy road in an older home, it can feel like the noises of the outside cars, crying cats, and leaf-blowers are happening in your living room. Those sounds can grate on your nerves and make you feel like your home isn’t totally your own.
Single-pane windows upgrade
While not cheap, you can greatly reduce noise by upgrading any single-pane windows to double or triple pane. This will also help with any proactive measures you’re taking with reducing temperature fluctuations.
Some professionals will only install triple-pane windows, while others are happy to discuss some of the benefits or drawbacks of going the double-pane route. Professionals typically agree that if you’re looking to make your house your forever home, and plan to be in it for longer than ten years, make the upgrade to the triple-pane windows. This goes back to energy-saving costs that will add up over those years, but if you’re looking to simply mute noise, a double-paned window is usually acceptable. If you’re on the fence with which windows you need to replace, check out this blog that delves into whether triple-pane windows are worth it for the consumer.
If you’re looking to save money but still reduce road-noise that slips into your house, one option would be to only replace the windows facing the busiest road or in the rooms, you use the most. For instance, you may want a bedroom to have complete silence, but not be as concerned with it in a home office. This way, you’re able to cut back on how much you’re spending, but continue making your house feel more like an escape from the outside world.
Noise-absorbing landscaping
Another long-term solution to reduce road noise if you have a front yard is to plant trees and shrubs that will block and absorb sounds. Additionally, this is one way that you can physically see the benefits, as well, whereas most of the things discussed today are less visual. There are multiple reasons that adding trees to your front yard could be beneficial other than a reduction in road noise, from added shade in the summer, to feeling a little more secluded, especially if you live in a high-traffic area. Uncertain which trees you might want to try in your yard? Here are some of the best noise-reducing trees.
A home is more than what you see
Not all steps taken to make your home feel homier are easy to spot with the naked eye. If you’ve painted the walls, rearrange the furniture, hung art on the walls, and are still struggling with not feeling quite at home, it may be something you simply aren’t seeing but instead are feeling or hearing. We often read about remodeling or renovations in terms of what looks visually different, but a warm house. free of road noise is a place that you might like to call home.
