Winter approaches: it is not merely a catchphrase of a TV series, but a fact with which your house has to deal.
Cold regions are synonymous with fighting elements by your home and take my word for it, this fight can be very ugly. Some tips on winter-proofing your home so that it does not turn into an icebox are:
1. Keep Your Water Pipes Safe
Can you just imagine waking up to find frozen waterfalls in your house? Well, let us prevent that. As soon as you see your breath in the air, disconnect and store any garden hoses.
Shut off the water to your outdoor faucets, drain the lines, and give those hose bibs a cozy winter jacket (a.k.a. insulation).
Pipes running through exterior walls in-house are traitors—they’ll freeze at their earliest opportunity. Monitor them regularly ensuring that wall insulation is adequate.
2. Close Holes and Cracks
Your house is no block of Swiss cheese. Each tiny hole through which cables or phone lines sneak into your house can bring cold air.
However, they also serve as passages where indoor heat escapes from your home. Take a can of Great Stuff spray foam and fill in those sneaky little gaps.
Weather stripping around doors and windows including spray foam insulation or caulking is some way to fight drafty intruders among others. The practice of checking for cracks should be done annually especially if one resides in cold areas.
3. Insulate More
Imagine yourself living inside an enormous thermos flask because this is exactly what your home should be like when you want to keep it warm during colder months.
This implies that appropriate thermal insulation must be installed on external walls, crawl space, basement, attic plus pipes. The local energy utility company may offer free in-home energy audits.
They will help you determine how much more insulation you need to add so that you get ready for the winter.
4. Maintain Water Flow
Frozen faucets are like bad magic tricks. If you have indoor faucets that sit on exterior walls and do not have proper insulation, set them to drip very slowly when extremely cold weather strikes.
This prevents water from freezing as it continues to move continuously. What elegant decorations these open cabinet doors would make in winter!
5. Keep the Water Shut-off Accessible
Envision your pipes bursting at 2 a.m., causing your home to become an indoor swimming pool! But there is no cause for alarm if you can reach your water shut-off valve which means you are all set when it happens at night.
Start by clearing out junk surrounding the valve such as old paint cans and those boxes labeled “miscellaneous”. You should be able to get to it without having to perform acrobatics of Olympic proportions, right? Check that the valve turns easily all the way clockwise.
On calling a professional plumber, he or she checks whether it is rusted or stuck up too tightly yet here is a fun family bonding activity: see every person inside know where its location is and how it operates as well, because believe me, this skill might someday save your life.
6. Find Your Water Meter
Let’s move on to finding the water meter in our winter home defense plan, think of it as a very advantageous hide-and-seek exercise.
Have a meter key or an adjustable wrench handy, and practice turning off the water at the meter. There might be some cities where homeowners are not allowed to shut off their own water.
Make sure you have your city’s emergency number for its water department programmed into your cell phone before proceeding further. Congratulations! You are now one step closer to being a superhero of home maintenance.
7. Keep Garage Doors Closed
Your garage door is like a giant magnet for cold air, therefore, keep it closed as much as possible so that the Arctic blast doesn’t turn your house into an igloo.
This small action can save pipes in your garage and shared walls between the house and garage from freezing over. So next time you want to leave the garage door open for convenience, just remember that cold air is lethal!
8. Clean Gutters
Clogged gutters are basically dangerous ice rinks waiting for someone to slip on them. Clean them out before freezing weather brings those ice falls hanging from your roof.
Gutter screens or helmets could help keep leaves out making things easier for you.
9. Check Attic Ventilation
Just like you need fresh air, so does your attic; right? It keeps warm air from melting snow on your roof that then refreezes causing ice dams. Check if there is insulation blocking the soffits or attic vents.
An unrestricted flow through an attic means fewer winter headaches.
10. Maintain Your Thermostat
In winter it’s all about the thermostat without which nothing would work perfectly well – always ensure there are extra batteries available, and let it never stop running even for once as sometimes such little things like having a functioning thermostat can make all difference when trying to keep warm indoors.
11. Prepare for Vacation
So you are heading to warmer areas? Good for you! But leave your home behind in a safe way. Turn off the water and drain your plumbing system completely to avoid returning to frozen pipes.
A freeze alarm will help you monitor the temperature inside your house even when you are not there. If every winter you run away from the freezing weather, this is a must.
The cost varies but for peace of mind? Also, make sure that your homeowner’s insurance is up-to-date and covers any damage related to winter.
12. Know When To Keep Your Appliances Updated
Ancient appliances are energy sappers in houses. Upgrade furnaces, space heaters, and electric wall heaters so that they run more efficiently while still keeping the house warm without emptying your bank account in the process.
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New models of appliances not only save up on energy but also serve their purpose better during those cold months. There it is!
Follow these tips and soon enough your home will be turned into an impregnable fortress against winter’s icy grasp. Now go ahead and start winterizing!