When you’re enduring harsh and cold winter months, there’s nothing better than keeping yourself, and your family warm and cozy. You’re here because you’re hoping to find the best ways to heat a house without central heating. Whatever reason it is – cutting down on your electric bill, a broken central heating system, or simply looking for alternative ways to keep warm – I’ve got you covered right here.
I know how important it is to feel warm when we are experiencing cold climates. If you worry about not having a central heating system or would want to try other ways to keep warm without having your electrical bills shoot through the roof, you’re definitely not the only one.
I am a tedious researcher and I made sure to apply the same for this guide. I spend hours and hours on end in hopes of searching for cost-effective and energy-efficient ways to keep you and your family warm during harsh winter months. I made sure to include here ways and tips that are easily accessible and a breeze to achieve.
Whether you want to save on bills or do your part for the environment by cutting on electric consumption, try a hand at these tips and ways we’re about to lay down on you!
How to Best Heat a House Without Central Heating
1. Look for drafts and seal those drafts
One thing that might be preventing your house from getting warm and keeping the warmth is because of draft windows and doors. When it’s cold out, you want to make sure that your doors and windows are shut, though it can’t be helped that your windows and doors have drafts. As a result, they could let cold air in, keeping you from warming up your house.
To solve this, you can get your hands on some weather-stripping tape. This can help you block out the cold air from coming in through the cracks. If you don’t have that, you can also use a rolled towel, blanket, or any cloth to keep the room warm.
2. Let the sun in to keep the house warm
The sun is a natural heat source you can always count on to keep your house warm. Letting the sun in can help warm up rooms and the house. When you have rooms in your home where the sun hits, make sure to keep the curtains up in those rooms. Make sure to check which rooms in your home get direct sunlight during the day to make sure you put the curtains up in those rooms for the natural heat source.
Once the sun sets and your rooms or house is all warmed up thanks to the sun, don’t forget to shut the curtains. This will make sure you keep the heat inside instead of letting them out and letting the cold breeze in.
3. Add some curtains to keep the cold air out
Curtains can help keep drafty windows at bay. Not only do they work to keep out the sun during summer seasons but they also help to keep the cold breeze out during winter seasons. If you want to use curtains to keep cold air out, make sure to opt for heavier cloth curtains instead of the usual lighter ones.
But as we’ve mentioned right above, it’s also important to keep them up when you can and when there is sunlight as it can help warm up the house or any room. And when the sun goes down, a good curtain will be able to trap that heat in while also keeping the cold breeze out.
4. Decorate with a rug
To heat your house without central heating, you might want to consider decorating with a rug. While rugs may not directly heat up your home, it works as an insulator and makes the room much warmer. A bare floor can be cold to walk on especially during harsh winter months. Adding a rug on your floor keeps the coldness into the floor instead of you walking on the coldness of the floor, especially if you don’t own a pair of wool house slippers.On top of that, they’re also much softer to walk on!
5. Close rooms that are not in use
One thing you need to know is that it’s much easier to keep small spaces warm, even without central heating. What you would want to do is keep unused rooms closed. Any room in your house you don’t use or are not planning on using should be closed shut. You can also insulate them with weather-stripping tape or towels, blankets, and cloth to make sure that drafts coming in from those rooms don’t reach the rooms or spaces you want to keep warm.
Determining which rooms need more heating than others lets you forcus on those rooms so they stay warm instead of trying to warm up your entire house.
- Cook with a stove or bake with an oven for warm air
Even without central heating, you can keep your house warm even without central heating using your stove or oven. The heat from these cooking appliances will transfer and travel through your home through warm air. You can choose to cook meals and courses as a family or bake freshly-baked goods with younger kids. You don’t only get to eat delicious and homemade food, you are also able to keep your house, especially your kitchen, warm and cozy.
- Install a radiant floor heating system
If you can and if circumstances allow you to, you might want to consider installing a radiant floor heating system in your home. This is a great way to make sure that your floor space is warm and heated up during cold winter months. Its radiant heat is especially a good choice for the bathroom, a usually cold room due to the cold weather as well. These come with their own thermostat to allow you to control your desired temperature. Some are even manufactured to be used in wet areas like the shower! Keep in mind though that this radiant heating is meant to be installed under your tiles.
- Dress warmly
The human body is naturally warm. If you want to keep yourself warm without having to sacrifice electric bills, one simple and energy-efficient way to do it is by wearing warm clothes inside the house. Come winter season, make sure you invest in some warm and thick clothes to get you through the weather. This allows you to trap body heat and warm yourself, instead of just the room. You can get yourself a warm and thick jacket or coat or warm and cozy pants. You can also add a hat to your wardrobe to make sure you’re warm all over. And if you would prefer, there are even heated clothes available in the market you can try!
- Light candles
One last little thing you can do to keep your house warm in the winter is to light candles. A candle will not only warm up the room but will also act as a light source. When you want to warm up a room with candles, make sure that you light a few and not just one. One single candle might not produce the heat and warmth you’re after.
Lighting candles might not be as effective a method as the tips before this but it can definitely help keep you warm. When choosing to light candles, make sure to never leave them unattended, especially if you have children around.
- Go for space heaters
If none of our tips worked for you and you would like to indulge yourself in a sure way of enjoying warm and hot air you might like to consider adding space heaters in your home. Instead of warming up an entire house, space heaters work to warm up smaller rooms. A space heater is only one of the more famous heating systems many have turned to in order to keep their homes warm.
Because these are electric, they still need to be plugged in and they consume electricity. If you’re worried about your electric bill, you can always choose to heat up only a few rooms you know you’re going to use. There are even options for an energy-efficient space heater available in the market right now! An energy-efficient space heater not only keeps you warm, but will also keep your heating bill at bay.
The Bottom Line
Keeping you, your family, and your home warm during the harshest of winter months is always a top priority.
Indeed, a central heating system is the most effective way to heat a house without exerting much effort on your part. But it’s not always an available option or maybe you would rather try other ways to save on electric bills. After all, we’re not all made of money.
Turning off your central heating system does not mean you’re a monster for wanting to live in the cold, it only means you would have to find other energy-efficient ways to warm up your home.
We can only hope that our list above will help you keep yourself, your family, and your home warm through the winter season without having your electric bills skyrocket through the roof. Remember, it’s also important to come together as a family to find more ways to be warm and cozy.
We suggest you go through our recommendations above of heating a house without central heating to find which ways work best for you and do let us and others know in the comments section below!
