This post is a guest post by my amazing friend, Rhonda Van Zandt. She lives in Alaska with her husband out in the wilderness.
They shop in town once a year, they provide their own food and meat through gardening, foraging and hunting. She amazes me with all of her knowledge of things preparedness, survival, off-grid and more!
Here are her tips to staying warm in extremely frigid weather. While some tips can be used in any cold weather, others are for more severe temperatures like below zero. Yes, some people do live in those areas!
tips to stay warm in even the coldest temperatures
Layer your clothing
A tee shirt (or thermal shirt) a shirt over it, a sweater and another then a coat, hat, mittens, warm socks and boots. If you are too warm remove a layer. You will look fat, just get over it.
Close off rooms
Rooms that have no water pipes or stored liquids, and aren’t where you are spending all of your time don’t need the heat. Close doors and hang blanket over doors. Small areas are best for staying warm in. This also helps conserve your fuel for keeping you warm longer.
Use Ceiling Fans
Heat rises so place a fan near ceilings in occupied rooms to move heat from ceiling’s back into living areas. If you have a ceiling fan, you have 2 options for movement. Make sure your fan is adjust to move air down for winter.
Cover all exterior doors and windows
Air seeps in through cracks and windows. Even if your house is well insulated, in extreme weather, use the extra insulating effect of blankets over doors and windows to help.
Do not let those covers touch the glass because they can freeze to the surface and form dead air spaces. But a bit of tape around the edge of the blankets can help keep the cool air out.
You can also seal windows with a window sealing kit to help keep them insulated and then layer blankets over it for a double insulation effect. And as always, keep your home well sealed by making sure all windows, doors and joints are caulked well.
While sealing up your exterior doors and windows is a must, you can stop drafts from coming into those exterior doors as well as interior doors with using a draft guard. Make your own or purchase a kit, but it can help keep drafty rooms from bringing in even more cold air.
Good ventilation is a must
DO NOT heat your small places with Kerosene or Charcoal or wood stoves with out proper ventilation as you can die from carbon monoxide poisoning. Follow all safety precautions when using those or propane heaters to make sure that you don’t poison your family. Also keep oil lamps in proper working order and in safe spaces to protect from accidental fires.
Keep pipes clear
Running cold water in a very small stream will help your pipes from freezing.
If they freeze we do not recommend a hair dryer, especially at extreme temperatures. If you do you may overheat the pipes too quickly which melt the hairdryer and then you risk water getting involved with the melting process which can be a fire hazard.
If you cannot get heat tapes just leave them frozen until it is a safer temperature to warm them. This is why we encourage you to always have water in bottles available. Hopefully you have drained the water from your toilets so they do not freeze and crack if the bathroom is freezing up. If your pipes do freeze and burst, make sure to turn off your water supply. Hopefully you’ve also prepared and insulated any outdoor pipes running into the house.
Think small
If you lose power, are out of fuel to heat, have nothing left to burn, are snowed in and isolated, think very small. Put up a tent inside, or build a fort your living room or other room that is most interior without pipes or cold floors. Pack yourselves in because more bodies create more heat. Use all of your blankets and sleeping bags to keep warm. One candle can also generate heat in the space (just, for goodness sake, be careful!).
Stay Hydrated
Drink lots of liquids as hypothermia sets in fast when you are not hydrated. Warm teas can help you feel warmer and keep you hydrated at the same time.
Top off your anti-freeze
Make sure to top off your anti-freeze in your cars. Otherwise, your radiator will freeze, it will crack, and you won’t have a working car.
Cracking a door at night
In houses with central heating can help the flow of heat between rooms so that you get good coverage. In a house we frequent in the winter, when closing off one of the rooms upstairs, it gets exponentially colder, even though it has a heat register inside. But by cracking the door, it allows the heat to flow from room to room and keep that room warmer. This, of course, is good when your single heat source isn’t in that room.
Think positively
The human mind is your worst enemy, and there is truth in the words scared silly…take a attitude of positive thought and you will be amazed at what you can do. Don’t just give up and sit there and die ..you can do it! People have done it for centuries, and so can you!