Winter is coming, and you don’t want to be caught flat-footed! Take steps now to make sure your home is ready for Winter. The last thing you want is to be stuck with a broken heating unit or frozen water pipes in the middle of the season!
Make Sure Your Home is Ready for Winter
Get Your Heating System Checked
This is an easy step that could save you a ton of trouble down the line. Get an HVAC technician to come out and double-check your system. They will be able to make sure everything is clean and in good condition. These “tune-up” style services generally cost around $90 or so. They could potentially save your hundreds or thousands of dollars if a technician identifies a problem before it gets bad.
The other huge upside to being proactive, instead of reactive, is ensuring your home will be comfortable and safe all winter. If your heating system fails in the middle of the coldest night of the year, you’re not going to be very happy. You’ll also be near the back of the line for repairs, as everyone else in town is having the overworked repairman come to fix their heat. Don’t get stuck shivering in the middle of Winter!
Check Your Roof
Make sure that your roof is ready for winter, too. If you can see to your roof, look for any missing or damaged shingles. If you can’t see it from the ground level, get a professional roofing company to come inspect it for you. We advise you don’t go up there yourself, as it could be dangerous!
A professional roofing company can tell you whether any shingles are damaged or missing. Then, they can offer you a quote for repairs. You’d much rather have them be proactive and replace it before winter storms and snow cause leaks into your attic! That kind of damage can be very hard to reverse.
While You’re Up There…
Make sure your gutters are clean and clear. If you don’t have covered gutters, this is a major concern. A lot of leaves and other detritus blocking your gutters can be a major problem in Winter. These blockages can cause major water backup, which is awful for your house and gutters alike. You can even have ice dams form in your gutters from these types of backup.
If you have covered gutters, however, you should be okay! Just have them check to make sure there’s no blockages in there. Ice dams can still form in covered gutters, even though they’re much less likely. You just want to make sure everything is clean and snow and rain has a place to go!
Another important note about gutters: make sure they divert water at least three feet from the foundation. If they don’t, you could get some serious erosion around the base of your house.
General Winter-Proofing
If your home doesn’t have cold-proof outdoor faucets, make sure you shut them off from the main valve in your home. Then, turn them on from the outside and let the excess water flow out of them. That way the water doesn’t freeze in the pipes and burst them! The same goes for any sprinkles or irrigation systems you might have.
If you plan on using your chimney at all this season, make sure you call in a chimney sweep, too! You don’t want to accidentally cause a house fire by setting some detritus ablaze! If you follow these easy tips, your home should be ready for winter!
High Ceilings? Run Your Fans Backwards
If you have very high, vault-style ceilings, you’ve likely learned the hard way that heat rises. Homes with vaulted ceilings and hardwood floors have notoriously cold floors in the winter. The best way to deal with this issue is to reverse the flow of your ceiling fans. If your fan has a reverse option, turn it on and let it run backwards. This will create an updraft, pulling the cold air off of the floor and displacing the hot air near the ceiling.
This turning of air makes your rooms feel more comfortable and can also help your power bill. By having your ceiling fans keep hot air well-distributed, your home will be more comfortable. This will let you keep your heating system a little lower and stay comfortable in your own home!
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