Why Is One Room in the House So Cold? How to Fix a Cold Room
Why Is My Room So Cold Compared To the Rest Of House?
Are you one of the many homeowners dealing with a temperature imbalance in one or more of your rooms? Have you found yourself asking questions like:
- Why is my bedroom the coldest in the house?
- Why is one room in my house so hot?
- Why are some rooms colder than the others?
Assuming your ductwork has been properly installed, every room in your house that has a heating vent should be the same exact temperature when you turn on the furnace.
If you have a room or section of your house that either does not get up to the same temperature as the rest of your house or takes much longer to heat and cool than other rooms, you could have a problem with your ductwork.
Properly installed ductwork is designed to provide every room of your house with equally cool or warm air, depending on how your furnace is currently set up.
It does this by pushing air through different sized branches of ductwork. The size of the ductwork connected to a room will depend on how big the room itself is.
The bigger the room, the bigger its ductwork. Ductwork needs to be different sizes because every furnace pushes out warm and cold air at the same rate.
The only way to create an evenly heated or cooled space throughout the entire house at the same time is by giving each room a bigger or smaller hole for air to be pushed into.
If you experience cold rooms or rooms that take too long to heat and suspect you have a problem with your ductwork, let’s take a look at some ways you can remedy this issue and get your house as evenly heated as possible.
Unbalanced Room Temperature: What Causes One Bedroom or Room to be Colder than Others?
So why can one room in your home be colder than others?
- Blocked or Covered Vents: One of the most common reasons for a cold room is blocked or covered vents. Heavy furniture or objects placed in front of vents can obstruct the flow of warm or cool air. To fix this, simply move the obstructions away from the vents to allow for better airflow.
- Dirty Air Filters: Dirty and clogged air filters can restrict air circulation, leading to temperature imbalances. Replace your air filters regularly to ensure proper airflow and temperature control.
- Inadequate Insulation: Poor insulation in a specific room can result in heat loss, making it colder than the rest of the house. Check the insulation in the walls and ceiling of the affected room. Adding extra insulation or caulking gaps around windows and doors can help improve insulation.
- Leaky Ductwork: If your HVAC ductwork has leaks, it can lead to inconsistent room temperatures. Inspect your ducts for cracks, gaps, or holes. Seal any leaks using mastic sealant or HVAC tape. For a more thorough and efficient solution, consider professional duct sealing services like those offered by Aeroseal.
- Ductwork Design: The design of your ductwork plays a crucial role in maintaining even temperatures throughout your home. Ducts should be appropriately sized for each room to ensure the right amount of airflow. If your ductwork is not designed correctly, it can result in temperature imbalances.
- HVAC System Issues: Problems with your HVAC system, such as a malfunctioning furnace or air conditioner, can cause temperature variations. Regular maintenance and servicing of your HVAC system can help identify and address these issues.
- Room Size: Larger rooms may naturally require more time to heat up or cool down. Ensure that the ductwork for larger rooms is appropriately sized to meet their heating and cooling needs.
How to Fix a Cold Room
If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “It’s so cold in this house, why is this room in my house always so cold?” or “That room in my house is constantly colder than the rest,” there are a couple of different ways you can diagnose and fix the problem.
1. Move Furniture Blocking Your Vents
The first and simplest way to improve the cold temperature spots in your house is to check your vents.
You might have heavy furniture or items covering up your vents, absorbing all the heat. This is a very common reason why one room in a house is always cold, and it’s easily solved by simply moving the items away from your vents, allowing an unobstructed flow of warm or cool air.
2. Check and Replace Your Air Filter
Alternatively, you may need to replace an old filter that is dirty and prohibits air flow to pass through.
Air filters are designed to improve indoor air quality by capturing particles from the air as it circulates through your HVAC system. As air flows through the filter, particles are trapped on the filter’s fibers or media. Over time, the accumulation of these particles causes the filter to become dirtier.
An old and dirty air filter may sound like a small problem, but it can cause one room in your house to be colder in a few ways:
- Restricted Airflow: As mentioned earlier, a dirty air filter becomes clogged with accumulated dust, debris, and particles over time. This accumulation restricts the flow of air (both hot and cold) through the filter.
- Reduced Heat Distribution: In a forced-air heating system, such as a furnace, warm air is pushed through the ductwork to reach all rooms in your home. A clogged filter impedes the flow of warm air, making it harder for the heating system to distribute heat evenly.
- Uneven Temperature Distribution: Because of reduced airflow, rooms farther from the HVAC system or rooms connected to ducts with dirty filters, may receive less warm air. This leads to uneven heating, with some rooms being colder than others.
- Temperature Variations: Rooms with poor airflow due to a dirty filter may experience temperature variations, with some becoming colder during the heating season. In extreme cases, these rooms might not reach the desired temperature.
- Strain on the HVAC System: When a dirty filter restricts airflow, your HVAC system must work harder to maintain the desired temperature throughout your home. This increased workload can lead to system strain and reduced efficiency.
Other than temperature imbalances, an old, clogged, or dirty air filter can also cause:
- Ineffective Filtration: A clogged filter may no longer effectively capture airborne particles and contaminants, allowing them to circulate freely in your home. This can lead to a decrease in indoor air quality, which may be more noticeable in rooms with poor airflow.
- Particle Accumulation: Airborne particles are constantly present in indoor environments. These particles include dust, pet dander, pollen, mold spores, and even microorganisms. As air passes through the filter, these particles are captured and accumulate on the filter’s surface.
- Health Concerns: For individuals with allergies or respiratory conditions, a dirty filter can worsen indoor air quality. It may also lead to increased discomfort and health issues in areas and rooms throughout your house.
- Expensive Costs: If you don’t replace your air filter regularly, having one room colder in your home may be the least of your concerns. Restricted airflow and the strain that creates for your HVAC system can lead to expensive HVAC repair and maintenance costs. This could also lead to the premature failure of your HVAC system––another expensive repair or replacement.
3. Improve Your Home’s Insulation
The first and simplest way to improve the cold temperature spots in your house is to check your vents.
You might have heavy furniture or items covering up your vents, absorbing all the heat. This is a very common reason why one room in a house is always cold, and it’s easily solved by simply moving the items away from your vents, allowing an unobstructed flow of warm or cool air.
Air leakage can be common in homes––especially older houses.
You may find that a reason one room is always colder is that it’s leaking more than others.
Check different common areas of your home to see if you can feel a draft:
- Around Windows: Inspect the areas around windows for drafts. Gaps or cracks in window frames and seals can allow cold air to enter and warm air to escape.
- Walls: Check for any visible gaps, cracks, or holes in the walls, especially near electrical outlets, switches, and plumbing penetrations.
- Ceiling: Inspect the ceiling for any gaps or openings, particularly where lighting fixtures or ceiling fans are installed.
- Attic: Examine the attic for any signs of insulation gaps or thinning. Make sure there is sufficient insulation covering the attic floor and that it extends over the eaves. Pay special attention to areas around vents, pipes, and access hatches, as these are common points where insulation can be lacking or damaged. Proper attic insulation is crucial for preventing heat from escaping through the roof and maintaining consistent room temperatures.
What are some ways to fix these air leaks and cold spots in the house?
Ways to Improve Home Insulation
- Spray Foam Insulation: Consider using spray foam to fill gaps and crevices in walls, ceilings, and attics. It expands to create an airtight seal insulating cracks, splits, gaps, and ultimately rooms in your home.
- Caulking: Use caulk to seal gaps and cracks around windows, door frames, and baseboards. Caulking prevents drafts and helps maintain a consistent indoor temperature.
- Weatherstripping: Apply weatherstripping around doors and windows to seal any gaps. This helps prevent air infiltration and heat loss.
- Insulated Doors and Windows: Invest in energy-efficient doors and windows with proper insulation to reduce heat transfer.
- Attic Insulation: Ensure your attic is adequately insulated. Consider adding or upgrading insulation in the attic space to prevent heat from escaping through the roof.
- Sealing Ductwork: Inspect and seal any leaks or gaps in your HVAC ductwork. Properly sealed ducts improve the efficiency of your heating and cooling system.
- Insulated Garage Doors: If your home has an attached garage, insulate the garage doors to minimize heat loss.
- Insulated Siding: Install insulated siding to enhance the thermal performance of your exterior walls.
- Thermal Curtains or Blinds: Use thermal curtains or blinds to trap heat inside during the winter and block excess heat from the sun during the summer.
- Rugs and Draft Stoppers: Place rugs on cold floors and use draft stoppers at the base of doors to prevent cold air from entering.
By implementing these insulation improvements, you can help yourself regain temperature control of a room that’s cold.
4. Check Your HVAC System and Thermostat
The location of your thermostat plays a crucial role in maintaining consistent temperatures. If the thermostat is placed near a heat source, such as a sunny window or a heat-producing appliance, it may incorrectly sense that the entire house is at the desired temperature, causing the HVAC system to shut off prematurely and leaving some rooms colder.
HVAC System Size and Efficiency can cause room temperature variations in a few different ways:
- Undersized HVAC System: An HVAC system that is too small for the size of your home may struggle to maintain consistent temperatures, especially in larger rooms or areas farthest from the unit.
- Inefficient HVAC System: Older or poorly maintained HVAC systems may not operate efficiently, leading to temperature disparities.
- Lack of Zoning: Homes with a single-zone HVAC system treat all rooms the same, which can result in temperature differences. Consider installing a zoned HVAC system that allows you to control the temperature in different areas independently.
5. Check Your Air Vents or Ducts for Leaks
Here are some ways you can fix leaks in your vents and air ducts:
- Duct Sealing Tape: Duct sealing tape is a quick fix for small gaps in ductwork that can contribute to temperature variance. It helps by closing minor leaks, improving airflow, and reducing cold room issues, but it may not address larger problems effectively.
- Mastic Duct Sealant: Mastic duct sealant is a durable solution for sealing gaps in ducts. By creating airtight seals, it prevents warm or cool air from escaping, ensuring consistent temperatures throughout your home, thus reducing cold room problems.
- Aeroseal: Aeroseal provides a professional-grade duct sealing technology that efficiently identifies and seals duct leaks. It provides a long-lasting fix, significantly reducing temperature variations and cold room issues by ensuring even distribution of conditioned air throughout your home.
Why is the Bedroom the Coldest Room in the House? More Solutions…
Another problem you might have could be dirty air vents. Dirty air vents can block air from getting through just like objects can, and they could be the answer to your question of “Why is it so cold in my house?”
If you’ve tried all of these solutions but still can’t get a good temperature balance, the answer could be inside your walls.
Degraded insulation could be your problem. If you’ve ever wondered how to warm one room in a house, the answer would be to either block the vents in other rooms or add excess insulation into the walls. Both will have the same effect but are not ideal for lasting results.
One Room is Hot? Leaky Ductwork Could be the Problem
If you have the opposite problem, and there is a room in your home that is too hot, chances are the problem is in your ductwork. If all of your branches of ductwork are sealed properly except one, it could lead to you having one hot room in the house. Or, in a more likely scenario, all or most of your ductwork having leaks in it would lead to a house that always varies in temperatures from room to room.
Fix Heating and Cooling Problems by Fixing Your Ductwork
Leaky ductwork is the number one cause of under-heated or cooled rooms inside homes. Cracks, gaps, and holes in the ductwork leading from room to room can cause a significant amount of air to be lost.
The only way to remedy this is by patching your ductwork. You can accomplish this by buying some mastic sealant or HVAC tape yourself and attempting to patch the holes.
While these may seem like quick solutions, you have to consider the time it takes getting to the ductwork, even potentially breaking into the drywall to reach all areas. A better way of going about things would be to contact a professional ductwork sealant company.
Companies like Aeroseal offer duct-patching technology that uses a computer system to identify leaks in your ductwork by pressurizing it after your registers and ducts have been sealed off.
Once identified, a technician will then send the liquid sealant through your ducts to plug each leak with just the right amount of sealant.
Only methods like the one described above are completely efficient at plugging HVAC ductwork leaks.
By unblocking your heating vents, cleaning them out, and hiring a professional team to come in and patch the holes up, you’ll never find yourself saying “My house is so cold” again!
To speak with a professional and see how you can get temperatures balanced in your home, contact Aeroseal today.
