Surviving Winter in Style

Preparing your home to survive the seasons is easy. It is also less expensive to do it yourself. Follow a few simple seasonal, fall and winter, strategies to keep your home in tip top shape and save yourself the headache of costly and time consuming repairs. A man’s home is only his castle if it is not falling down around him.

Fall and Winter Maintenance Tips

Outside Your Home

Using a ladder may be safer, but it also more time consuming, and perhaps even annoying, to get up and down to shift the ladder to a new location. If you do choose to climb onto the roof, do so carefully and be sure to wear footwear with good tread.

Roof and Gutters

 Remove debris- Mother Nature has a way of depositing many things upon the roofs of homes. Remove the debris from the roof. Use a soft bristled broom to gently sweep all of the debris into a pile. Bag the debris and dispose of it properly.
 Clean out the gutters- leaves, roofing grit, and other debris have a way of collecting in the gutters. Carefully remove any large pieces by hand and dispose of properly. Use a small tool, such as a spade or trowel, to remove small, gritty pieces.
 Clean out the downspouts where the gutters meet the walls of your home. An old pair of tongs may be helpful with this task. This will help to prevent a backup of water on your roof.
 Repair minor damage to the fittings- Tighten any of the fittings that have become loose to ensure that the gutter stays attached to your home.
 Replace fittings- Any fittings, that have become damaged beyond repair, should be replaced with new ones.
 Repair minor damage- Silicon caulk and a small piece of aluminum sheet metal may be used to repair small holes that exist in the gutter. If water leaks through the gutters in places that it isn’t supposed to, seepage into the home may result.
 Flush the roof- Flush everything with water from a hose to make sure that you have gotten every bit of debris.
 Cover- If you cover the gutter with hardware cloth, you can prevent buildup of debris in your gutters in the future.

Decks: Pool and Other

 Sweep debris from the decking and place in the trash.
 Put away any pool toys, floats, skimmers, foot baths, thermometers, etc.
 Replace any loose deck nails or screws with new deck screws. First, remove the loose ones.

Windows and Doorways

 For windows sills and doorways where the existing caulk has begun to pull away from the surface, remove the old caulk as completely as possible.
 Be sure to clean the area where the caulking will be applied.
 Wait until the area to be re-caulked is completely dry and re-caulk.

Outside Faucets

 Shut off the inside water valve to each outside faucet to prevent freezing.
 Turn the outside faucet handle to release any remaining water from the pipes once you have turned off the valve.

Inside Your Home

Repairs and preventative maintenance inside the home is just as important as outside the home. Possibly, this is more important if you are thinking about your personal comfort. Plan to spend the lesser half of a weekend investigating needed repairs. Then, plan to spend the better part implementing those repairs. This is where a “stitch in time” actually equates to “a minute now or hours later.”

Insulation

 Purchase and install a hot water heater-insulating blanket to conserve heat. In the event of a power outage, this may decrease the possibility of water damage.
 Prevent the freezing of water pipes that exist in an unheated part of your home by insulating them with special pipe insulation. A more expensive and time consuming effort would be to completely relocate the pipes and reroute them to a heated region of your home. Heat tape may also be applied to the pipes in lieu of the other choices.
 Research the R-value of your existing insulation. Check to see if you have the correct value for each of the areas that are insulated- floors, ceilings, and walls. If you discover that the wrong insulation has been used, replace any areas of your home with the proper R-value.

Heating Systems

 Change the filters to your furnace and put in brand new ones each fall.
 Clean the registers in each room for the best possible efficiency.
 Move furniture, curtains, and loose carpeting or rugs away from the registers so that the air can circulate freely and to avoid a fire hazard.
 Check the gas furnace to make sure that the pilot light is blue. If it isn’t, call and have a repairman from the company out to look at it immediately.
 Hire a chimney cleaner to inspect your chimney and flue and to remove any creosote that has accumulated.

Lighting and Fans

 Check all of your lights, lamps, and fans for loose wiring. Replace any that need to be replaced.
 Clean all of your ceiling fans, lamps, and lighting fixtures.
 Turn the fan’s power supply off and oil the motor.
 Switch the direction of the fan to maximize the benefit for circulating the heat in your home.

Sealing Air Leaks

 Replace sheer curtains with heavier drapes to retain the heat in your home.
 Check for air leaks around electrical outlets, pipefittings that exit or enter the home, attic entrances, windows, and doorways.
 Caulk or add insulation plates (for electrical outlets) to any location that merits it.
 Apply temporary weather stripping to prevent air and heat leaks at the windows.

Safety Procedures

 Purchase smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors for every floor. Be aware that these should be replaced every three to five years depending on the model.
 Replace the batteries in your alarms at least once a year.
 Check the alarms to make sure that they are still in good working order.
 Trim shrubbery away from windows, doorways, and water pipes.
 Have a professional trim any shrubbery that is growing too closely to electrical wiring.
 Replace outdoor light bulbs to motion detectors and doorway lights.
 Invest in a few solar outdoor lighting sets for an inexpensive way to add security to your home.

People spend many hours and fistfuls of dollars to maintain their cars every year. However, they often overlook the family home and the necessary maintenance chores that should be done. Considering the large sum of money that is invested in a home, a few dollars more to keep it in tip top shape is well worth it. Remember, a car may take you where you want to go, but a home is the place you want to be. Baby your home with tender, loving care, and it will return the favor.
Copyright © 2005, Ian White

Author Ian White is founder of http://www.petsitters.com.au This site specializes in helping pet sitters and pet owners connect to each other. Find and screen a sitter for your pet or advertise your pet care business. Register for petsitting, find assignments or post free sitter needed ad.