Feeling a chill enveloping your room can be both discomforting and puzzling. As the temperature drops and you find yourself shivering, you may wonder what lies behind this unwelcome change.
A cold room can stem from various factors, ranging from environmental influences to structural issues within the space.
Understanding the reasons behind a cold room can help you take appropriate measures to create a warmer and more comfortable living environment.
When your room is cold, it means that the temperature inside the room is lower than what is considered comfortable or desired. Several factors can contribute to a cold room.
It may be that one room is always colder than others because it leaks more. Feel for drafts in the following areas:
Around Windows: Check the areas around windows to see if they are drafty. Cold air can enter and warm air can escape through gaps or cracks in window frames and seals.
Let’s delve into the mysteries of why your room feels chilly and discover ways to turn it into a cozy sanctuary.
Why Is My Room Colder Than Others?
The temperature of every room in your house which has a heating vent should be the same when the furnace is turned on, assuming your ductwork is properly installed.
Your ductwork could be malfunctioning if one of your rooms or sections of your house doesn’t reach the same temperature as the rest of your house or takes much longer to heat or cool than other rooms.
It is important that ductwork is installed properly so that every room of your home receives equal amounts of cool or warm air, depending on how your furnace is set up.
In order to accomplish this, it pushes air through a network of ductwork with different sizes. It depends on the size of a room and how much ductwork it will take to connect it.
Ductwork is bigger in larger rooms. Due to the fact that every furnace pushes out warm and cold air at the same rate, ductwork needs to be different sizes.
If each room has a bigger or smaller hole for air to be pushed into, then the entire house can be evenly heated or cooled at the same time.
You may experience cold rooms or rooms that take too long to heat if you suspect your ductwork, is the problem. Let’s look at some ways you can resolve this issue and ensure your house is evenly heated.
How to Fix a Cold Room?
Have you ever sat there wondering why one room is always so cold in my house, even though it’s not so cold outside?
There are several different ways you can diagnose and fix the problem if one room in my house is constantly colder than the rest.
Check your vents first. Your vents may be covered with heavy furniture or items, which absorb all the heat.
In this case, moving the items away from the vents allows warm or cool air to flow unimpeded, allowing the room to be always warm or cool. This is a very common reason why a room is always cold.
Alternatively, a dirty filter may prevent air flow from passing through and needs to be replaced. A cold room in a house can be fixed in a variety of ways.
Why is the Bedroom So Cold?
It is also possible that your air vents are dirty. Air vents can block air flow just as objects can, and they could explain your question of “Why is my house so cold? ”
You might be able to get a good temperature balance inside your walls if you’ve tried both of these solutions.
You may have a problem with degraded insulation. Adding additional insulation to walls or blocking the vents in other rooms is the best way to warm one room in a house. Neither will have a lasting impact, but they will have the same effect.
1. Check Heating Vents
Your house’s heating vents should be inspected. Rearrange the room if necessary to accommodate this change and move furniture out of the way of a vent if it covers one:
- Look for dust or gunk buildup on the outer grates.
- Clean the grates if they are dirty.
- Remove the duct cover to inspect the inner vent if the grates do not appear dirty.
There could be a problem if dirt lines the inner vent. An infestation problem can be identified by seeing rodent droppings or carcasses. Contact your exterminator right away if you see any of these signs.
If you want to inspect the vents in depth, take a flashlight with you. By reaching inside your vents and taking pictures with your smartphone, you can get a better understanding of their condition.
2. Fix Heating and Cooling Problems by Fixing Your Ductwork
The most common cause of under-heated or under-cooled rooms inside homes is leaky ductwork. A significant amount of air can escape through cracks, gaps, and holes in ductwork leading from one room to another.
Patching your ductwork is the only solution. This can be accomplished by attempting to patch the holes yourself with mastic sealant or HVAC tape.
While these may seem like quick fixes, it takes time to reach all areas of the ductwork, even if you have to break through the drywall. Contacting a professional ductwork sealant company would be a better approach.
By pressurizing your ductwork after your registers and ducts have been sealed off, they use duct-patching technology to identify leaks in your ductwork.
Upon identifying the leaks, your technician will inject just the right amount of liquid sealant into your ducts. HVAC ductwork leaks can only be completely sealed using methods like those described above.
Unblocking your heating vents, cleaning them out, and hiring a professional team to come and patch the holes up once and for all is the best way to avoid saying “my house is so cold.” again.
3. Test the Temperature of Your Walls
The problem may have less to do with your heater than with degraded insulation if one wall in your home is much colder than the others.
In order to complete these steps, you would have to remove the interior plasterboard and replace the insulation and re-fill the wall cavities.
Spray foam insulation into the wall cavities is one of the easiest ways to re-insulate your walls. Small gaps and enclosed spaces can be filled with spray foam insulation.
Each wall cavity can be insulated with spray foam by drilling small holes in the wall. Spray foam insulation is a non-intrusive material that is easy to remove when needed.
4. Test the Thermostat
You may not be able to adjust the temperature in your rooms if the thermostat reads the heat incorrectly. For 15 minutes, tape a thermometer to the wall next to the thermostat reader to test its accuracy.
To prevent hot or cold temperatures from transferring from the wall to the thermometer, place a paper towel behind it. Here, we are determining the room temperature.
After 15 minutes, compare the two readings. There is a possibility that your thermostat is faulty if the reader and thermometer are more than one degree apart.
5. Clean Your Return Air Vents
It is possible that dust and gunk in the air vents can obstruct the passage of heat. Follow these steps to clean out the vents:
The duct covers should be unscrewed from the walls after your HVAC system has been turned off.
Make sure each duct’s grates are thoroughly cleaned. You can use a cleaning spray or soapy water if necessary.
You can also vacuum over any crevices in the air ducts using a vacuum hose.
Cover your floor with newspaper and wear a dust mask to prevent dust from landing on your face or floor when cleaning your ceiling grates.
6. Make Sure It Is Not Your Windows or Doors
How can one room in my house be so cold? Your door and window edges may hold the answer to that question. Make sure there are no drafts around the window panes and door jambs.
7. Replace the Door Stripping
Whether due to age, wear, pets, or nicks, the stripping along your vertical door jambs can get damaged. Drafts can easily enter your home if the stripping is cracked.
Make sure the weather stripping on the door is in good condition by inspecting it from top to bottom. Depending on your needs, you can choose between hard or soft stripping.
8. Install or Replace a Door Sweep
When there is a gap between the bottom of your front door and the threshold, cold air can easily enter your home. This can make your home feel drafty and cause your heating bills to rise. One common cause of this problem is settling of the house over time, which can cause the door frame to shift. This is especially common in old houses with second floor doors, where settling can be more pronounced.
Check whether light is coming in from outside to determine if there is a gap. Alternatively, you can stand barefoot before the door to feel for a draft. The door sweep might need to be replaced if this is the case.
You should measure the horizontal width of your door and choose a sweep that is appropriate in length. Make sure that the sweep is applied to the under-edge of the door according to the instructions that come with the product.
When your entrance’s flooring rises above the threshold in front of the door, a door sweep will not work.
9. Tighten the Door Hinges
An air leak could also be coming from your front door, especially if it is loose on the hinges and closes slightly ajar.
From the inside of the closed door, run your palm up and down the vertical sides for air leaks. Another option is to use a candle.
You have a loose upper hinge if you feel a draft or the flame turns sideways. Test whether there is still a draft by tightening the upper hinge and testing the sides again.
Ensure that the door’s vertical sides are weather-stripped if you still feel a draft. It might be necessary to remove old stripping first if the door was built within the last few decades. An older door might not have any stripping at all.
10. Consider Glass Insulation Film
It is also possible to salvage a weakening window by reinforcing it with a film of insulation, which adheres to the glass and makes it stronger and more airtight.
Most hardware stores sell insulation film. You can temporarily improve the quality of older windows with insulation film rather than investing in new ones.
Heat adheres insulation film to glass. Each glass pane should be covered with film using a hair dryer. To avoid wrinkles, follow the instructions that come with the film carefully.
11. Apply Rubber Sealing to Your Window
Your energy bills could be impacted if your windows leak air, reducing your insulation’s effectiveness.
To verify that there is a problem, flick a lighter along the edge of your windows or hold a lit candle there. You have a leaky window seal if the flame blows sideways.
Window seal air leaks can be easily fixed with rubber sealing strips, which are the cheapest and easiest.
Make sure the strips you buy from your nearest supplier cover both the vertical and horizontal measurements of your window seals. Each loose window should have strips applied along its left, right, top, and bottom edges.
One Room Is Hot? Leaky Ductwork Could Be The Problem
Likewise, if you’re experiencing a problem with too much heat in your home, it’s likely your ductwork is the culprit.
You may have one hot room in the house if all of your ductwork branches are sealed properly except one.
The most likely scenario would be to have leaks in all or most of your ductwork leading to a house with never-ending temperature fluctuations.
Other Places You Should Look
Consider a draft from your fireplace or poor insulation in your attic or basement if cold air sources cannot be found in your ductwork, windows, or doors.
Bookshelves
You may have an insulation problem in the wall cavities around recessed bookshelves in your living area.
It is possible that mold may have developed in the insulation surrounding the shelf if a bad smell has developed in that part of your home and you cannot trace its source or remedy the problem with air fresheners.
It is likely that poor insulation is to blame if the area around the bookshelf has also been one of the coldest spots in the house. Inspect the insulation and replace or reinforce it if necessary.
Ceiling
Your roof insulation could be worn, insufficient or absent, causing heat to flow upward and out of your house. The joists in your attic may need to be accessed by removing floorboards in order to apply new insulation.
All electrical lines running along the ceiling should be turned off. Cut your new insulation to the appropriate lengths and widths depending on the width between the joists. Using thick insulation sheets, fill each gap from side to side.
When applying new insulation, keep light sockets or outlets away. The floorboards should be reattached.
It is generally advisable to hire a home improvement specialist unless you are up to the task of performing these steps yourself.
Fireplace
By adding ceramic insulation around the chimney, you can prevent cold air from leaking into your home.
The most convenient way to prevent air drafts from entering the fireplace when it is not being used is to use inflatable fireplace plugs.
You insert a fireplace plug up the chimney using a standing rod. It looks like an inflatable, plastic pillow. The fireplace can be used by removing the plug and setting it aside when not in use.
Basement
Cold air can enter your basement if it is not adequately insulated, which compromises your living space’s comfort. The insulation in your basement should be checked to see if it is worn out, insufficient, or nonexistent.
The walls of a basement can be insulated with foam board, which can be installed relatively easily.
Final Words
Check your heater vents, ductwork, and thermostat readings if one room in your house is colder than others. A yearly inspection of this kind is recommended.
Finally, when looking at cold rooms, you need to take a holistic approach. The HVAC system should be checked, the insulation should be checked and the entire building envelope should be inspected for leaks so they can be sealed.
