When the temperature drops during this time of the year-Winter, you would like to sit in the warm and cosy environment inside your home with a nice hot mug of tea. Though the weather gets colder and the days get shorter, but you need to ensure that you are not going to get caught up with a leaking roof repair or an airy draft getting through the windows or doors, therefore, it is essential to make your home winter-ready ahead of time.
A survey suggests that ‘91% of the builders believe they are busiest during the winters.’ Nonetheless, now is the time-before the arrival of winters, to get all the house jobs done. To help you get started, here’s are some winter home maintenance tips of the tasks you need to do before cold weather arrives:
Maintaining Roof and Exterior
It is essential to maintain your home exterior and roof before the arrival of winters to ensure your roof is able to handle the pressure of snow throughout the winter season. Gutter cleaning or unclogging drains, removing any leaves and other debris is important, because, if gutters get clogged, then the snow that melts from the roof has nowhere to go and will stay on the roof, thus causing potential damage.
Keeping Your Home Energy Efficient
You can follow some tips to keep heating costs down throughout the winter season:
- Look for any air drafts present in windows and doors and seal them with weather stripping, caulk, or window film on the interior and exterior separations.
- Inspect your home insulation and see if it needs a replacement; because with time, insulation loses its effectiveness.
- Installing faucets and hot water-saving shower heads to help with lower energy usage.
- Turning off and unplugging the electronics and kitchen appliances when not in use.
Get your Furnace and HVAC Systems Serviced
You should check the filter of your heating system every 30-60 days before the beginning of winter, and replace it if needed. Also check air ducts for inspecting any air leakage to prevent heat from escaping.
Investing around £100-£250 in its annual service will save you money in the longer run. A technician will inspect your furnace, heat pump or boiler, and also measure carbon-monoxide leakage to ensure that your system is clean and in good repair condition. After inspection, make sure your furnace and HVAC system is functioning efficiently, cleaned, and updated.
Preventing Frozen Pipes
Insulating is essential as pipes tend to freeze because they are often located in the attic or basement with very less insulation. In addition, if a pipe gets burst it can cause severe water damage in your home. Therefore, it is important to install water pipe insulation in advance on cold and hot pipes to keep them warm during winters.
You can also choose other options like heat tape, pipe sleeves, actual cables, and heat reflector lamps that wrap around pipes to heat them during winter.
Check Carbon Monoxide Detectors and All Smoke Alarms
Checking batteries in all carbon monoxide and smoke detectors, replacing expired batteries, and also storing extra backup for the batteries in hand for the winter months is very paramount. Because heating is the cause of fires especially during winters. Also, you should test all the detectors every month.
