10 Tips to Winterize Your Home

Ten Quick Tips On Winterizing Your Home

5 Exterior & 5 Interior 

Exterior: 

1. Check your roof for missing shingles and your siding & trim for loose pieces or exposed areas where water can enter. 

2. Clean your gutters and check that they are not leaking.

3. Clean all of your basement level driveway drains, if you have the. All exterior drainage should allow water to flow to enter easily. If there are drainage issues, water will pool and cause water patches further causing damage to the property.

4. Turn all of your outside taps off and disconnect the garden hoses. Insulate outside taps if at all possible.

5. If you have an irrigation system with sprinklers, make sure you have them blown out so no water freezes in the lines as this will cause them to burst.

    

Interior: 

1. Check all your weather stripping and windows to make sure there are no areas of heat loss that will allow cold air to enter your home. If you can see through your weather stripping, it needs replacing.  

2. Check your house to make sure that every room with an outside wall has a heat source and that it is functioning properly. If it is a vent, heat should be blowing through it when the furnace is on. If it is a wall-mounted heater, heat should be felt when it is turned on.

3. Check your furnace filter to make sure it is installed correctly and replace it if necessary. This is recommended every month during periods of heavy use.

4. Test your smoke alarms and replace batteries. Make sure you have a carbon monoxide detector. Smoke alarms & carbon monoxide detectors should be placed throughout the house, but it is especially important to have them outside your bedrooms so that you wil hear them if they go off while you are sleeping. 

5. Have an emergency back-up kit for those times when the power goes out. This kit should include at minimum: candles, flashlights, blankets and bottled water.

Provided courtesy of I Find It Inspections.