Fresh Content: 5 Ways To Prepare Your Home For The Winter
Photo by Jill Wellington from Pexel
Despite the fallen leaves and pumpkin spice treats you are enjoying now, cooler weather is just around the corner. The holidays are not far away, and yes, you will have to dig yourself out of the first real snowfall of the season. Thus, preparing for winter goes beyond grabbing your heavy coats from the closet.
In order to protect your biggest investment, take a proactive approach as a homeowner. Here are some tips for cold weather.
Make Sure Your HVAC System Has Been Inspected
The last thing anyone wants in the middle of January is to be without heat in a house. Make an appointment with a local HVAC technician (one who knows your system well) to schedule a tune-up for yourself (and your family). For families with older furnaces, this is an especially relevant step to take.
Look At Your Gutters
Cleaning your gutters once the leaves are down is always a good idea. A majority of homeowners are not aware that clogged rain gutters can result in extensive roof damage, siding damage, and damage to wooden trimming on their windows and doors. Moreover, clogged gutters have been reported to have given rise to foundation issues as well.
Get Water Away From Your Home
The rainwater pooling at your house corner, coming down the spout pipes, may not appear to be an issue at first. During the cold winter months, this area is susceptible to freezing and thawing as temperatures drop. Consider installing trenches and underground drain pipes now to divert water from your house. If you have broken or damaged fencing that usually supports the drainage and protects your home during bad weather make sure you arrange for fence installation services sooner rather than later.
Conduct An Energy Assessment
Do you have any memory of ever having an energy audit completed by an experienced professional? With the cold winter nights knocking at the door, now is definitely a good time to carry out such a task. It is important for the professional who conducts the audit to offer not only tips on how to save energy but also advice on how to determine areas of inefficiency.
It is important to make sure that your windows and doors are caulked before the first cold spell hits this winter. This will help you conserve energy. Installing solar panels and repairing cracked windows are two more energy-saving ideas that should be considered.
Hire A Tree Service
In the fall, when all of the leaves have fallen from the trees, it is easy to ignore them for the season. As opposed to pruning your trees as soon as possible, you might be tempted to do so as soon as possible. If you are considering pruning your tree, just be aware that licensed arborists recommend that you wait until later in the winter, when the trees are dormant for a number of months.
Furthermore, you should try to understand how well your tree is doing before winter arrives. In this case, the next snowstorm is likely to bring down limbs on trees that have significant damage, disease, or are completely dead. As opposed to allowing your property to be damaged by fallen tree limbs, consider contacting an arborist who will be able to identify rotting trees and any hazardous limbs.
Hopefully, this guide has given a few tasks to add to your to-do list in order to get your home ready for winter. What else will you be doing? Please share some in the comments below.
