Lower-cost and easy ways for homeowners to beat the winter chill

CALGARY – It’s the season for pumpkin spice lattes and cosy sweaters, but also draftier rooms and pricier energy bills.

Spending tens of thousands of dollars to replace older windows and doors with state-of-the-art efficient ones might not be in everyone’s budget this year. But efficiency experts say there are simpler and cheaper ways to keep a home toasty and comfortable in the meantime.

“Often we have the perception that the problem is our doors and our windows, but really the problem is more the leakage that’s happening around our doors and windows,” said Carl Duivenvoorden, a sustainability consultant in Upper Kingsclear, N.B.

So a low-cost, do-it-yourself option with a good return on investment would be weatherstripping, he said.

“You just go around the windows and doors and you check where drafts are and you get some weatherstripping from a hardware store and you can install it yourself, typically,” said Duivenvoorden.

“It tends to give you significant savings with a really quick payback.”

It’s more of an investment, but homeowners might also consider adding insulation. Basements, especially concrete ones, would be the place to start, said Duivenvoorden.

“We all think that heat rises. Well, it’s true — hot air rises. But a basement, even though it’s underneath us and maybe not heated, still loses a lot of heat. So you can get a pretty big return on insulating a basement,” he said.

“If you’re handy, you can install a bit of a framed wall and some batt insulation yourself. There’s foam insulation as well, but that needs to be covered up for fire codes, so that gets a little bit more involved.”

Attics are another area where adding insulation can get you bang-for-your-buck.

Duivenvoorden and his wife rented a blower machine and worked together to add some insulation to their attic last year. In addition to improving heat loss, they’ve noticed that it also made the house more comfortable on hot summer days.

Daryl Knowles, a consultant with home service firm Enercare, recommends homeowners think about air quality as they prepare to hunker down for the winter.

“You’re about to shut your windows for about the next four to six months with the cold weather coming, and we’re gonna be pumping in a lot of heat,” he said.

A simple low-cost solution would be to replace your furnace filter. It’s also a good time to give ducts a good cleanout.

But Knowles said the most important thing to do this time of year is have a technician come by and make sure your furnace is operating well.

“With that, they are proactive and potentially noticing if there’s any wear and tear or anything that could be going on in the furnace that shouldn’t be,” he said.

“And now is the perfect time to deal with that as opposed to when it’s -20 C outside and you’re really in a jam then.”

Duivenvoorden said there are some measures that are completely free, like turning down the thermostat and opting to wear a sweater around the house. Opening blinds during the day to let in the warm sunshine and closing them at night to keep the heat in is another one.

“The good news is that there’s an awful lot that can be done with little to no financial investment and it comes down to just learning a little bit about where your energy goes and maybe getting into some new habits.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2025.