A quick checklist of important winter maintenance items to tackle.
As we get closer to winter, it’s important to keep your family safe from the cold. Here are a few home maintenance tips to keep your home warm and functional this holiday season:
Pull the hoses off of your hose bibbs and put on styrofoam covers. This is a small thing that can help regulate the temperature of your house and protect your pipes from freezing over.
Pull in your patio furniture. Patio furniture can be expensive, so put yours in a safe, warm area like a shed so that it can last a few more seasons.
Fill in any cracks around the house. Purchase silicone, caulk, or other filler materials and fill in the cracks caused by the sun’s harsh heat cast on your home. That will prevent cold air from seeping in and warm air from seeping out.
Get a cover for the attic fan vent to prevent heat loss through your attic.
Check all your smoke and CO detectors. The safety of your family is paramount; if the unit is more than 10 years old, change it out, and remember to replace the batteries.
Call your local chimney sweep to clean out your chimney.I love a good roaring fire in the fireplace, but it’s important to keep your chimney clean to reduce the risk of a house fire. The service usually costs around $150 to have them come out to clean and inspect.
Always have a fire extinguisher handy. Many homes could have been saved from total loss due to a house fire if the owners had access to a fire extinguisher.
Get your furnace serviced. Since your furnace will likely be running for multiple hours a day, you need to make sure that there’s no debris buildup and that it is functioning at a high level. Since energy costs are going up this winter, this is a good way to be safe and save a little money at the same time.
Have your ducts swept out. We recently had this done on our house; I couldn’t believe some of the stuff that came out of our ducts! Your air ducts, along with your dryer vents, can pose a fire hazard if there’s too much buildup, so having them cleaned out keeps them running optimally and keeps your family safe.
Hopefully this list gave you some idea of how to keep your home safe and warm this season. If you have questions or need any assistance, please feel free to reach out and give us a call or send an email. We’d love to hear from you.
