Home Winter Safety Checklist: Protect Against Cold Weather Damage
When it comes to preparing for the winter, you need to make sure that you are thinking about taking care of essentials before the weather turns really cold. It’s too late to tackle the items that prepare your home for winter once winter has hit, which is why it’s a good idea to have a checklist in place to remind you to take care of the critical things on the right timeline.
A skilled furnace repair company can help you to check on the health of your furnace and your HVAC system so that you know for sure that you will be comfortable all winter long. Finding out that you don’t have heat when it is snowing and quite cold out is a very stressful experience. This is just one of the many things that you can do to make sure that your home is ready for the tough winter weather well before the seasons shift.
Things on Your Home Checklist For the Winter
1. Check on Your Furnace
Many people don’t even think about their furnace until the weather is really cold and the heat doesn’t work. This is not ideal from the standpoint of preparation and you need to make sure that you don’t let you and your family suffer through cold days with no heat. Part of your preparation for the winter needs to include having a skilled team come and check on the health of your furnace.
Each brand and style of furnace has a shelf-life, so you need to be certain as well that you know how many years your furnace is going to last. Saving money to replace your furnace at the right time is also a key part of preparing for the cold months ahead. Once your furnace is past the age where repairs make sense, it is wise to replace it so that you can have peace of mind when the weather is at its coldest.
2. Repair and Clean Gutters
Many people forget all about their gutters and the overall drainage system around their home during the summer months. Tree debris and silt from roof tiles can all clog up gutters and lead to major problems when the wet weather arrives at the start of the winter months. Clogged gutters can lead to flooding around the foundation of your house and can create standing water in your basement or crawlspaces.
You need to be sure that you have someone clean out your gutters or tackle this job yourself before winter hits. This is a great time to locate problems like broken gutters and problems with downspouts as well, and attend to them before standing water impacts your yard or your home.
3. Clean the Chimney
If you have a fireplace that you use, you need to make sure that the chimney is not clogged or grimy each year. This is an important part of making sure that your plan to heat your home works properly, and it cannot be completed when the fireplace is in use. A chimney care professional should come out at least once a year to clean your chimney and examine it to be sure that it is in good working order.
Cleaning the chimney is one of those things that it’s easy to forget about when the weather is warm and the chimney is not in use. You will need to set a reminder to have this taken care of after the birds are done with nesting season and before the cold weather hits, so that you don’t forget about it entirely.
4. Check For Drafts and Air Leaks
There are lots of places in a home where air can leak in. These drafts and air leaks can cost you a lot of money when you are heating and cooling your home each year, and contribute to cold and unpleasant spaces as well as hot rooms that are not nice to spend time in.
Always be sure that you check the caulking and seals around windows and vents, and that you verify that you don’t have air leaking in around the doors in your home. These are the most common places for drafts and air incursion to happen. You can check on these kinds of issues by simply holding your hand up to the edges of the windows and doors and seeing if you can feel a difference in the air temperature. You might even feel the air blowing against your hand.
Solving these problems is usually quite simple and only requires some new caulking or a new seal. However, if your windows and doors are quite old, it might be better to replace the ones that are not sealing properly so that you don’t have to struggle with increased heating and cooling costs and discomfort all season long.
Caring For Your Home Means Having a Checklist For the Changes Of the Seasons
When it comes to having a home, there is no such thing as zero maintenance. This is one of the factors that can be overlooked by homeowners when things are going well. Keeping your home in good condition means taking the time to repair things and take care of routine maintenance all year long. The shifting of the seasons can be a real challenge unless you are prepared for it, so be sure that you think about the seasonal shifts as time to check on common failure points and routine maintenance needs.
Taking care of your furnace is a must when you own a home, and this process should be at the top of your list of things to do before the coldest part of the winter hits. Working with a skilled HVAC company can allow you to schedule these maintenance appointments with ease so that you don’t have to deal with a miserable winter without warmth or pay increased energy costs due to a failing furnace. Preparing for the winter is important, and you should make sure that you do so each year.
