It’s getting to be that time of year where you get into the shower in the morning and you just want to stay in their forever because getting out means stepping out of your hot shower into the cold bathroom. I know I love being able to get out of a hot shower in the winter and have the rest of my bathroom be warm and cozy. Here are several tips I have discovered through the years that can keep your bathroom warm without any expensive renovations. Not only will they keep your bathroom warm, but they will help insulate it and save you money on heating costs.
The first area in your bathroom to inspect is the windows if you have any. Windows can be a huge source of heat loss. Put your hand around the edges of your window and around the area where two window panes connect. If you can feel a draft anywhere, you are letting cold air in and throwing money out. Apply new silicon caulking around the window edges and replace any worn or flattened weather stripping on your windows. This will help seal in the warm air and keep the cold out.
The second thing you can do is to install a see-through plastic window film over the entire window. This will help prevent the cold air from penetrating through the window. Stretch the film across the entire window and then blow warm air on it with a blow dryer. This will help the film get nice and tight to the window allowing you to see out as if the film wasn’t there. This will keep your bathroom warmer and save you money on heating costs. Check out the 3M window insulator kit here http://ow.ly/frU4n. Watch this two minute video to see how to install these window insulators [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vj6vCFoYcE].
Once the warm weather comes you can simply peel off the film without leaving any marks on the window.
Now that you’ve kept the cold air out, you can focus on warming up the bathroom. I know I like to take longer showers in the winter but the thought of wasting a bunch of water used to stop me from staying in as long as I wanted. Then I purchased a more efficient shower head. Old models can use between 5-8 gallons of water every minute, but new ones can use as little as two gallons per minute. This means you can take longer showers and use less water, thus saving yourself money and helping the environment. Most of these new shower heads can just screw onto your existing shower head so they’re easy to install and can cost as little as $10.
Another way to keep your bathroom warm is to install a heat lamp. These lamps can help keep your bathroom warm weather you’re in the hot shower or not. Most of them come with a timer so you don’t have to worry about accidentally leaving them on.
I think the best way to transition out of a hot shower in the winter is to immediately be able to wrap yourself in a warm towel. You can pick up a heating towel rack that simply plugs into an outlet and they come in a variety of different designs so it could even be an aesthetic element for your bathroom.
Heated towel rack
One thing that can be overlooked when people are trying to keep their bathrooms warm in the winter is their appearance. The look of your bathroom can do a lot to make you think of being warmer. Decorate your bathroom with some warm colored bathmats, towels, and maybe even candles. These small changes can make your bathroom FEEL warm in addition to actually being warm.
Doesn’t this bathroom just look warm?
So hurry up and get your bathroom winterized before the first frost of the season.
