Prepping Your Home For Winter

29 September, 2011 (10:51) | Uncategorized | By: admin

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Everybody has been aware of spring cleaning, but not many people know what it means to winterize your home. When fall season arrives you need to inspect your home’s readiness for the upcoming winter. During fall it really is easier to examine the outside of the home, since the foliage is dying away and you can more easily see if shrubs are attached to the house. Siding is easily damaged by roots and vines that cling to the surface area – even bricks aren’t immune – and they should be cleaned off.

Once you’re finished watering for the year, you must drain all of the hose, and roll them up to be stored away. The water to any outside faucets should be turned off, in order that they can drain and get dry. After you think you won’t make use of the garden furniture once again that year, get it cleaned and stored in a dry place. For those who have any trees that are still developing, and especially those that have not endured a winter, shield them by placing mulch around the base of their stems. All water drainage ditches should really be cleared to enable them to cope with any heavy rains.

Fireplaces spring to mind once the weather begins getting colder. Try to get your chimney swept in time, before the first cold spell, because that’s generally when everyone wakes up and wants it done. When you use logs, do not hold off in finding someone and getting a good supply built up. When cruising around rural areas, you might find local people who sell fire wood, without lots of advertising. Whether or not you employ a fireplace in the winter, you should check all of your smoke alarms to make sure they are working. If you leave your Christmas lights in place for the whole year, check that the cords remain flexible. If you usually mount storm windows, the time has come to do it. You must assess if any of the weather-stripping has become dried out from the summer’s heat and needs to be replaced.

Over the winter months, the windows are left closed most of the time, so make sure that the filters in your range hood are in good working order. Check the dirt around your house to make sure that it still slopes away. In case water appears to drain into the cellar, or the foundation, that can be bad news for your house. In the first instance it leads to wet rot, which could transform to dry rot after some time, which you sincerely want to do without. You ought to search for seepage regularly.

You must look for leaks, the most susceptible places being the roof, gutters, down-pipes and inside plumbing. It’s a given, but all the leaks must be repaired. Minimize a draft by safeguarding air-conditioning units, and think about wrapping exterior pipes, especially if the house is older. It’s a good idea to shampoo the carpets and rugs, since dust is more noticeable in the winter. Finish off simply by cleaning the windows.