If you plan to invite guests for Thanksgiving this year, you want your home to be the ultimate in hospitality and comfort.
Whether you run the “Earn Your Turkey” Thanksgiving Day Run in Orem before your feast or ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ over this year’s Festival of Lights in Spanish Fork afterward, everyone will enjoy dinner together in a cozy, comfortable home.
5 Tips to Keep Your Guests Comfortable at Thanksgiving
Gillette Services – Plumbing, Heating & Air can provide timely air quality solutions or heating repairs to prevent last-minute furnace or heat pump problems when guests arrive.
You want your home to smell good, feel clean, and maintain comfortable temperatures, especially if guests plan to stay the weekend to take in the Winter Lights Parade or gather around the TV to watch Big 12 football.
Let Gillette Services – Plumbing, Heating & Air help you with a comfort strategy to keep your guests happy before and after the holiday. Follow these five tips to guarantee comfort on Thanksgiving Day and long after the turkey and pumpkin pie are gone.
#1 Schedule Heat Pump and Furnace Maintenance
Prepping your heating system is essential to ensure it operates at peak efficiency and without glitches throughout fall and winter.
Early fall is the ideal time for a checkup because it identifies potential problems before you fire up your heating unit for daily use. Operating a system with faulty or worn parts could cause them to worsen and affect other components, eventually causing a breakdown.
We urge you to schedule a professional safety inspection and tune-up now. You will feel confident your heating system will work flawlessly without requiring your guests to don sweaters on the big day.
#2 Air Quality Solutions in Utah County
A little planning goes a long way toward ensuring that your allergy-sensitive guests do not sneeze their way through holiday festivities.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), indoor air quality (IAQ) can be worse indoors than outside. It states that pollutants can be two to five times higher than typical outdoor concentrations
The EPA suggests a three-prong effort to improve indoor air:
- Controlling the source of indoor pollutants
- Improving ventilation
- Using an air purifier or filter system
You might ban smoking indoors and store pesticides, paints, and other chemicals in a shed or garage. Wearing slippers instead of shoes indoors and limiting the use of particle-emitting fireplaces and stoves are two other examples of source control.
If the weather is mild and outdoor pollution is low, open windows slightly to bring fresh air into your home. Be sure to operate your exhaust fan while cooking.
Consider adding a whole-house purifier or filtering system to clean your indoor air. Our favorite IAQ products at Gillette include the Air Scrubber by Aerus and the REME-HALO® air purifier. Both eliminate viruses, bacteria, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), pollen, dust, and other allergens.
#3 Monitor Your Home’s Humidity Level
A humidity level that is too high or too low can make you and your guests feel uncomfortable, even when the indoor temperature feels perfect.
Dry indoor air can cause dry skin, respiratory issues, nosebleeds, and static electricity shocks. Too much humidity can provide a perfect environment for mold growth.
With our dry air here in Utah, your indoor air will likely be dry, too. Aim for an indoor humidity level of 30 to 50 percent.
Increasing the humidity level in your home is easy and inexpensive when you employ a few DIY tips:
- Consider adding a few houseplants.
- Hang laundry to dry indoors.
- Allow items in your dishwasher to dry naturally. Open the dishwasher door slightly as they dry.
- Use your cooktop. It will help add moisture to the air as you cook, especially if the recipe calls for boiling water.
- Open the door to the bathroom after showering to allow the steam to circulate.
- Use a portable or whole-house humidifier. Be sure the filter is clean. Consult manufacturer instructions on setting the correct humidity level.
If you do not own a whole-house humidifier, now is the time to add one. Say goodbye to cleaning your portable humidifier every few days and lugging it from room to room. One of our qualified Gillette technicians can install the whole-house equipment in a few hours.
You will feel the difference between severely dry and humidified air.
#4 Weatherize Your Home
Break out the caulk and weatherstripping to keep cold air out and heat inside your house. Use weather stripping on doors and caulk around windows. Consider buying a window insulating kit. It contains plastic film that creates a barrier against the cold outdoor air.
If you have the time to add insulation and seal air leaks, you can save up to 10 percent on your annual energy bills, according to ENERGY STAR®
#5 Clean, Organize, and Create a Comfy Environment
- Declutter before guests arrive. Clutter can feel stifling and make guests uncomfortable, and too many items on shelves and tabletops can hamper dusting.
- Clean floors and dust. Decluttering first will make cleaning easier.
- Adding pillows and a few throw blankets to your family room or living room will help guests relax and feel warm and comfy.
- Add seating if necessary, but refrain from crowding the room or blocking air vents.
- If you plan to use your fireplace, be sure it is clean and working correctly. Consider installing tempered glass doors and a blower to circulate the heated air.
#6 Bonus Tip!
Replace your manual thermostat with a smart thermostat. A smart thermostat that operates via Wi-Fi lets you change the temperature with an app on your smartphone. You can program temperature changes daily or weekly, lowering the thermostat setting when you plan to be away.
Some smart thermostats adjust settings automatically after learning your temperature preferences and home occupancy patterns. They also provide energy use data, humidity information, maintenance reminders, and HVAC troubleshooting.
You will not regret installing a smart thermostat. It will help you decrease energy consumption and save on utility bills year-round without skimping on comfort.
Welcome Thanksgiving Day Guests With Confidence
Need heating system installation? Let Gillette Services – Plumbing, Heating & Air help you prepare for winter with a new Carrier furnace or heat pump. Whether you need indoor air solutions or heating and cooling system repairs and maintenance, consider making us your go-to for all things HVAC. Call us at (801) 465-7760 or request service online
