5 tips on how to winterize your home

The cold is back and along with it comes higher home heating and energy costs.

Taylor Bennett with Bennett Property Shop spoke with CTV Morning Live on Wednesday to provide some helpful tips on how you can better prepare your home for the winter.

It is better to get your home ready before the peak winter months arrive, Bennett said, and it is especially important for those hoping to sell their homes.

Bennett says many buyers are now asking for a copy of winter utilities before purchasing to compare the energy efficiency for each home they are interested in.

"If you're looking to sell your house in the spring, now is a good time to make sure those winter bills are quite low," he said.

Embrace the sun

Allow more sunlight to enter, which will help reduce heating costs and make your rooms more inviting.

If your house faces the sun, take advantage of the heat during the short window of light during the day by opening your curtains.

This will also help you save on your electricity bills, as you won't need to turn on your lights as often.

Close the curtains at night

At nighttime, close the curtains, as homes lose a lot of heat through windows during cold winter evenings.

"Glass is a terrible insulator," Bennett said.

Seal air leaks

It’s important to seal leaks in your home to prevent a draft from the outside. Warm air can also escape from your home around poorly sealed windows and doors on lower floors.

Outside air mostly comes from unsealed doors and windows but can come from exterior light fixtures and outlets. There are several inexpensive ways to seal your doors and windows, including caulking and weather stripping.

Bennett recommends installing the fixtures and sealing holes before the coldest parts of the winter.

Stop heating unused rooms

Close doors, turn off lights and shut off vents in rooms that are not in use. This will save on both electricity and heating bills.

High heat

Ceiling fan direction may not be something you think about on a regular basis, but it can make a big difference in the comfort of your home and impact the number on your energy bill.

Bennett recommends purchasing fans in the winter months to push warmer air down in your home. Ceiling fans can be reversed in the winter months, which circulates the warmer air throughout your home.

"In the summertime you want to pull the warm air up and in the winter time, you want to push that cold air down," he said.

Your fan direction in winter needs to be clockwise to create an updraft and circulate warm air around the room. Ceiling fans can be turned back counterclockwise during the summer to push down cold air.