How to Winterize Your Home
The snow is falling, the wind is chilling, and the winter blues are in the air. If you had taken time out in the fall to winterize your home, you could be sipping a hot cup of coffee right now, in the comfort of your warm and cozy living room. If you didn’t, you’ll end up with a cold day in hell for the next three months of winter. Winter may be a beautiful season, but the chilly below-zero temperatures can get really uncomfortable, especially during harsh winter days. To keep yourself warm and comfortable, you need to winter-proof your home. Here are some tips to prepare your home for the chilly months ahead.
When to Winterize Your Home
You don’t have to wait for the first snowfall to prepare your home for the winter season. It is best to prepare your home for the winter months during mid-fall. By winterizing your home early, you don’t have to worry about drafts and chilly winds that come weeks before winter. You also don’t have to rush winter-proofing tasks, which may end up to be very costly repair jobs in the middle of the winter or when spring comes.
Cleaning
Cleaning is a very important part of winterizing your home. Believe it or not, all the dirt that accumulates in your home before winter can actually render winterizing measures ineffective and inefficient. Before you start winterizing your home, you should take the time to clean your home’s exterior and interior:
Schedule a thorough cleaning of all the rooms in your house.
Get rid of all the leaves and twigs that have gathered inside the gutters.
Inspect the gutter pipes for cracks or clogged material. If the gutter pipes need to be replaced, replace them with weather-resistant steel or PVC pipes.
Align the pipes in such a way that the water drains at least 10 to 15 feet away from your house to prevent water and ice damage during the winter.
Get rid of moss, lichen, and other plant material that gather on your home’s exterior walls.
Preparing Home Heating
Heating is your home’s first line of defense against the strongest chills and coldest temperatures during winter. Depending on your house’s design, you may use a fireplace, a central furnace, radiant heating, or electrical heating. No matter which heating solution you use, you need to make sure that your house is guarded and prepared for harsh winter temperatures for the next few months:
Make sure that your heaters can generate enough heat to keep you warm for the chilliest possible months.
Have enough fuel (oil, firewood, diesel, backup generator) on hand just in case you need it. You don’t want to go out on the chilliest winter day just to get fuel for your heaters.
Prepare some space heaters and emergency heaters just in case your central home heating system fails.
Inspect heating and ventilation ducts for obstructions. In older homes, you may want to replace the ducts and vents ahead of time to prevent problems.
Insulation and Checking Leaks
Insulation is your home’s second line of defense against the winter chill. Many homes are constructed in such a way that they’re already proofed for the winter, although you still need to protect your house against snow, sleet, and really cold temperatures:
Inspect your insulation to see if it needs replacement. It doesn’t hurt to tear down last winter’s insulation and replace it with new material.
As much as possible, don’t use improvised insulation material like old packing foam, shredded paper, and plastic bags. Insulation material is cheap, and can be bought from hardware stores and home supply shops.
Check the weatherstrips on your doors and windows to see if they’re free from leaks, cracks, or that they haven’t hardened enough to be ineffective at keeping heat in your home.
Attach or replace the storm doors and windows to guard against strong and harsh winds.
Cold air is heavy, and enters your home through cracks and leaks found near the floor. You need to pay special attention to leaks and cracks and other vents at the base of walls, doors, and windows.
Winterizing your home takes time, and is a job that should not be rushed. With these tips, even the coldest winter chills are no match for all the preparation you took to keep home a warm and cozy place for the winter season.