Winter is right around the corner. Right now is a good time to start thinking about your home maintenance as well as getting it ready for the colder weather.
Below are a few simple things you can do to get ready for the winter and keep your home happy.
Insulate Your Attic or Crawl space
Insulating your attic this winter can mean big savings. Your home will instantly become more energy-efficient by insulating your attic, which saves your monthly utility spending. When the temperature outside drops too low or rises too high, most people turn on the thermostat. When you must change your home’s temperature drastically, you are using significant amounts of energy. Having your home’s heat out of the attic and in living quarters will leave the attic cool and will prevent damaging ice dams from forming on your roof. The insulation in your attic provides a fitted and secured layer of material to separate your interior walls, floors, and ceiling from the exterior of your home. You don’t want your HVAC system to be working overtime to heat your home because of all the warm air escaping from your attic.
Clean and Inspect Gutters
Keeping your gutters clean is not only important in the fall but is more important to make sure they are clean for the winter. When the snow falls it adds extra weight to your gutter and can cause them to detach and fall to the ground. When the weather gets cold and everything starts to freeze, the water that is still in your gutters will freeze creating ice dams that cause snow and ice to accumulate on the roof. The best solution is to look into hiring someone to install heat tape. The heat tape is designed to produce lots of heat, so if any snow or ice got into your gutters it won’t create ice dams.
Service Your Furnace
As the temperature is starting to drop fast, you’ll want to turn on your furnace to keep your home warm and comfortable this winter. Before you jump into turning your furnace on it’s important to make sure your furnace is safe and is in working order. You should check and change your furnace’s air filter every few months. Turn your thermostat to heat. Clean off the burners before turning your furnace on for the first time in the season. Various components of your furnace can fall into disrepair, the blower needs to be oiled yearly so it can operate smoothly. Once you turn on the furnace listen for any unusual sounds. Before you turn on the furnace make sure the vents are not obstructed and nothing is blocking the heating vents. I am a big supporter of an annual furnace maintenance, and it must certainly help when it’s time to list the home for sale.
Is your home all ready for winter??
