5 Great Ways To Give Your Home The Once Over Before Winter
If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, then you’re preparing for the cold winter months that lay ahead. As much as we all love a snowy and icy winter, the potential damage to our homes caused by extreme temperature fluctuations can cause expensive damage. So we’re going to unpack 5 of the predictable ways you can weatherproof and give your home the once over before Winter and beyond.
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FIRST, LET’S LOOK AT YOUR HEATING
It’s been a good few months since you last had cause to crank up the heating, so that means it’s about time to give your central heating system a good looking into before winter starts.
A technician can come out and give your central heating a quick once over to make sure that all is as it should, your pipes, system, vents and the like are all in good nick, and if you act in good time, you will also be spared the indignity of being the 150th person in line for repairs, on the coldest day in the year.
If you have ceiling fans in your home, the chances are that they have a reverse switch; turn this on after you turn on your heating to circulate air throughout your home economically and quickly.
TIME TO HEAD UPSTAIRS (ALL THE WAY, LIKE…THE ROOF)
If you have elderly relatives or loved ones, then this is an area that you could help out in and save some potential risk. Get the ladder out and head to the roof for a thorough check. Have a look at your tiles (if you have them) and see if you can identify loose, missing or damaged tiles or shingles. These problems could lead to more significant issues later on and, much like getting your central heater seen in good time, the same principle applies here.
This is particularly important if you’re located in the north of the United Kingdom or elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere, prone to heavy snowfalls and icy wintry conditions. It will really help to give your home the once over before winter arrives.
SEAL IT UP, CHECK YOUR INSULATION
Check your windows, doors, attic entrances, bedroom doors and basement windows and vents for cracks in or broken seals. Not only can these deteriorate faster when damaged and let in an awful lot of cold air, but catching them in good time and having them replaced where necessary will save a considerable amount of expense later on.
While you’re at it, this is also an excellent time to check in on your insulation. Ensure that it is spread out correctly, isn’t wet or showing signs of damage. If you don’t have insulation, now is also a great time to check on getting some. If you have an older home, you’ve probably noticed that it can get quite draughty, and this icy wind in the cold winter months can really chase up your heating bills. Properly installed and maintained insulation can change all of that instantly and add value to your property.
WHAT’S YOUR GUTTER SITUATION?
Throughout the winter months, this is an activity that you will want to repeat a few times and especially after storms and throughout autumn. Dead leaves, twigs, rodents and other debris can collect in your gutters and, over time, cause damage to siding and wood trim as a further cause of backed up water. That backed up water can freeze and cause “ice dams” that could lead to further damage.
While you’re busy checking your gutters, take the time to doubled-down and check your water diversion pipes for seal breaks, rust and damage. You’ll want to get issues repaired as quickly as possible because, much like your heating system, you don’t want to be the family that’s waiting at the end of a neverending line for repairs after a storm that could have been minimised or even avoided if caught in good time.
PIPE MATTERS
Before the snowy and icy days come, take some time to close all outside faucets, irrigation systems if you’re a keen summertime Gardner and pay special attention to your swimming pool pump system if you happen to have one. Water in pipes can freeze and burst, and this could cause terrible damage to your home. So invest some time checking your lines and, where necessary, install pipe insulation or use heat-trapping tape.
Prepare Your Bathroom For The Chill
Your bathroom can be a real pain during the winter, mainly because it causes you to absolutely rinse through your hot water usage. Ideally, you want to minimise the amount of hot water used every day – which means focusing on keeping your bathroom hot and allowing lots of steam to form in the shower.
A custom shower door can help with this, as it’s made to fit your shower and trap all the heat inside. You’ll turn the shower to a lower temperature while still getting the full warmth from the steam. Something as simple as this will lower your water bill without forcing the family to take cold showers throughout the winter!
In the United Kingdom, where many buildings and homes are very old, it’s never a bad idea to get some professional help when checking all of these things out. Sure, money may be tight right now, but it’s going to be a whole lot tighter repairing the damage to your home that you could have avoided.
The United Kingdom is in a period where extremes in summer and winter temperatures are becoming the norm.
This will have a direct impact on damage and, subsequently, preventative techniques.
We seldom think about the ramifications of seemingly unrelated things, but here we can see how important this can be. Not only is the cost mounting for property maintenance, but rising costs in heating are causing elderly relatives and loved ones to cut back on heating in the winter, which in turn is costing the NHS over £1 billion a year.
As you’re already going to be busy around your home checking out ways to winterproof your property, it’s the perfect time to check in on your appliances too. If you need to find spare parts online, that can save you replacing the whole machine, saving some money.
Responsible homeownership means staying on top of these issues before they become irreparable or cause even more significant damage and potential injury or illness. Winter is a time to hibernate and for looking forward to the holiday season and weekend lie-ins. It’s not for scaling outside walls and cleaning dirty gutters, so get your winterproofing done in good time and spend your Saturdays’ binge-watching your favourite shows with mugs of hot chocolate instead of freezing up on the roof.
In the head up to Christmas this year, here’s a nifty checklist to keep you on track for the season of silly. I hope you get ahead of being organised to give your home the once over before Winter.
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