Winter is Coming - is Your Home Ready?

photo credit: MRBECK

Prepare your Home for the Winter Months

By Eric Forbes

1. Check your heating system including filters, pilot lights and burners. Have the system serviced by a qualified professional. Cleaning and servicing now can save you money later. Learn steps to boost your furnace’s efficiency and how to replace your furnace filter.

2. Clean and vacuum dust from vents, baseboard heaters and cold-air returns. Dust build-up in ducts is a major cause of indoor pollutants and can increase incidences of cold-weather illnesses. Consider hiring a pro to clean hard-to-reach ductwork.

3. Paint interior rooms while it’s still warm enough to leave windows open. Ditto for shampooing or replacing carpets. Give a fresh start to your interiors just in time for fall and winter parties and family gatherings. Learn painting steps to success — how to choose the right paint, how to solve paint problems and more.

4. Caulk exterior joints around windows and doors. Caulking helps keep your house weather-tight and lowers heating and cooling bills. It can also help keep insects and other “critters” out of your house. When you caulk before painting, it eliminates edges where the paint may start to peel.

5. Protect your home from uninvited critters. As urban limits expand, more and more homeowners have to contend with wildlife in their yards and houses. Installing grates, securing trash containers, even humane traps may help.

6. Start to put away tools and equipment left outdoors during the summer such as play equipment, lawn mowers, barbeques, gardening tools and hoses. It may be time to winterize your pool, too.

7. It’s time to think about the condition of your roof. Be proactive and prevent emergency — and expensive –repairs. Find out about common trouble spots and how to locate a leak from inside.

8. Next to checking your roof, insulating your home is one of the most important tasks to accomplish before the onslaught of winter. Insulation goes beyond simple weatherstripping and caulking (see #4) and may be a job for professionals. The money and energy you’ll save will make the job worth it. 

9. You insulate and weatherstrip and think that you have your home all sealed up for winter. But there are some inconspicuous spots through which heat can escape. Learn how to seal these gaps too.

10. Inspect and clean your storm windows to get them ready for installation. Storm windows can help you save energy during the cold months and are significantly less expensive than putting in new double- or triple-glazed windows.