Get Your Home Ready For Winter (Tips and Tricks)

Many issues homeowners face during the winter can easily be mitigated by a little bit of preventive maintenance prior to the first snowfall. Ensuring that the exterior of your home ready for ravishes of winter snow, ice, wind and freezing is critical for keeping your home safe and warm this winter. Also you may realize energy savings by attending to some of these maintenance items.

Roofs and Gutters

• Look over your roof for, damaged, missing or lifting shingles and replace, as necessary. Winter ice, wind, temperatures and ice dams can do substantial damage to already weak roofing shingles. You don’t need to replace the whole roof at this point, this is merely a preventative measure.

• Look at your flashing where it meets the chimney, walls, and skylights and around vent pipes. If you notice any openings or gaps use a caulking gun and sealer to fill all joints where water could enter.

• Look at where your gutters are connected to the house as well as downspouts for proper fastening, if the gutters or downspouts are loose or saging, remove the old screws or nails and replace with longer screws or nails or move the position of the fasteners to get proper connection. Snow and ice can tear gutters off your home and create additional problems.

• Get your gutters cleaned, full gutters prior to winter can cause all sorts of problems. Also be certain your downspouts extend away from the house by at least six feet from your foundation to prevent water damage and flooding as snow melts.

• Make sure all vents and openings are covered (you can fill them with PVC netting, metal netting, or steel wool) to prevent insects, birds, and rodents from getting inside where they will nest.       Animals nesting in your home cause sanitary as well as real safety issues, such as chewed wires, blockages which can cause fires, and other physical damage.

Windows and Doors

• Check all the weather stripping around windows and doorframes for leaks to prevent heat loss. Replace weather stripping, if required. A good way to see if there are gaps is to wait until night fall and have someone stand inside the darkened room and have someone flash a light around the edge of the door or window while the person inside looks for light. Also look at the condition of the weather-stripping, is it cracked, deformed, hardened, or otherwise deteriorated. Remember even the smallest space can allow a tremendous amount of heat loss.

• It’s time to pull all those storm doors/windows out of the basement or shed. They really do make a difference from preventing wind penetration, and forming an air pocket of insulation that retains heat and gets some solar benefits. Also be aware screen doors tend to get damaged in the ravages of winter, so swapping them out with your storm doors and windows is a good idea.

• Check window frames for signs of rot or decay. Rotten Sills or trim are a primary area for water penetration and heat loss. You can either replace the rotten areas, or you can apply a wood penetrating hardener and a bonding agent over the rot once it is removed to re-fill. The secondary option is a more temporary fix but will gain you time.

• Check for drafts around windows and doors. Caulk inside and out, where necessary, to keep heat from escaping. You can test for heat loss with a low priced thermometer gun which you can buy at home centers for under $40.00

• Inspect windows for cracks, broken glass, or gaps. Repair or replace, if needed. Be careful as double pane windows may require professional repairs.

• You may wish to apply plastic film on the inside of your windows to help ameliorate heat loss issues.

Exterior and Lawncare

• Cut back overgrown branches that are near your roof, house and electrical wires to prevent iced coated or windswept branches from damaging your home or falling on electrical, cable or phone wires.

• Be sure rain or snow drains away from the house to avoid foundation deterioration or leaking. The ground around your home should slope away from the house. Add soil to low areas, as necessary.

• Remove any attached water hoses and store them in a basement (cold destroys hoses)

• Shut off exterior faucets. Drain water from outdoor pipes, valves, and lawn sprinkler heads to protect against pipe bursts. You may wish to add antifreeze to the lines for additional protection.

Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning

• Inspect fireplace, woodstove, or pellet stove and its flue to ensure that they’re clean of any soot or creosote and operate properly. If possible be sure there are no cracks that could cause a fire hazard.

• Check fireplace for drafts. If you feel cold air when the damper is closed, the damper itself may be broken, worn, or rusted.

• Clean or replace the air filter in your furnace.

• Clean your whole house humidifier and replace the evaporator pad.

• Bleed valves on any hot-water radiators to increase heating efficiency by releasing air that may be trapped inside.

• Check that smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors work and have fresh batteries. Winter is a peak time for home fires.

• Remove air conditioners from windows or cover with insulation covers. Remember even the smallest hole or space lets a lot of hot air out and cold air in.

• If you feel cold air coming from your outlets use insulating foam spray in the voids to help relieve cold air penetration.

• Switch your fans to the reverse or clockwise position, which will blow warm air down to the floor.

• Look over any exposed air handling ducts in the attic, basement, and crawl spaces, and use a sealing tape to cover any holes or gaps..

For more Winterization Tips and Tricks Contact NHCRS Services, LLC.

[email protected]

603-732-8844