Essential Tips to Winterize Your Home

Photo of cold winter lake
As the colder weather begins to circle around our days and evenings, it’s time to think about winterizing our home for the impending season. Take a look at the following tips that will keep your home cozy and safe throughout the blustery weather ahead!

Add Insulating Foam to a Home’s Exterior Pipes 

As temperatures begin to drop, you need to winterize your home to reduce your heating bills along with preventing property damage. On a warm autumn day, begin by working on the exterior of your home to get it ready for winter. Drain the water from the faucets and pipes that are located near a garage to keep the items from freezing and bursting. For additional protection, wrap stick-on insulation foam around these pipes before placing a cover over the faucets.

 

Clean a Home’s Rain Gutters

You must clean your home’s rain gutters to remove leaves that will prevent proper flow of rainwater or melting snow. Having clogged gutters is an inconvenience because rain and snow will drip down the side of your home, drenching you each time you enter or leave a doorway. At the same time, this rain will collect at the bottom of your home, damaging the foundation. If the rain gutters on your home fill with debris quickly, then you need to trim the lawn’s tree branches.

 

Inject Caulking In Crevices to Prevent Cold Drafts

To avoid having cold drafts inside your home, buy liquid caulking to squirt into the holes and crevices that are located around windows, doorways and the foundation. You should also use this substance inside your home for extra protection. If your home has single-pane windows, then applying clear insulating film to the glass is a good way to keep climate-controlled air inside your home. You can add this type of window film to the inside or outside of the glass, and it is easy to remove in the spring. If your home has a basement, then don’t forget to insulate the water pipes along with covering the windows in this area.

 

Clean the Fireplace and Furnace

You need to have a home’s climate-control equipment ready before winter begins. Each fireplace in your home requires an inspection and cleaning before it is used. A professional chimney sweep can remove a buildup of debris from the firebox and the exterior chimney. In addition, it is imperative to tune-up a furnace by lubricating its components, cleaning its mechanisms and changing its filter. Make sure to test a furnace in the autumn to verify that it is working correctly to avoid needing an emergency repair during the first snowfall of the season.