Winter Home Maintenance Tips
Your home is a serious investment. Even though the winter makes us want to stay indoors, some maintenance tasks still need to be checked on now and again. These periods checks can help you to save on expensive repairs. Use these tips to keep your home in top condition this winter, even though the coldest of the weather.
Winter is hard on your home, from your heating to your roofing, so make sure you’re keeping up with your maintenance tasks to keep everything in good repair.
Check For Door And Window Drafts
Can you feel cold air coming in through your windows and doors? This could indicate that you have a problem with poor sealing around them. An easy to check where the draft is getting in is to use an incense stick. Light an incense stick and hold it near the door or window you think lets the cold in.
If the smoke whirls around instead of rising as it should, this shows there is a crack. You can fill in these cracks with caulk, or you can add some weather stripping. Sealing up these cracks can save you money on your energy bills in the winter.
Check For Roof Ice Dams
If you live somewhere where snow and ice are common in the winter, then you can end up with ice dams on the overhang of your roof. An ice dam is usually on the edge of the roof, where snow and running water accumulate.
Water runs down the roof and collects at the overhang where there is less heat from inside. The water then freezes. This can lead to water seeping into the attic, causing damage to the roof and your ceilings. To solve this problem, clear away ice from the roof with a rake or install heated cables to stop water from freezing and encourage the water to run off into your gutters instead.
Check Your Fireplace
During the winter, the family is probably spending more time gathering around the fireplace to keep warm. If you have a wood fireplace, it’s a good idea to get it serviced once a year to remove any build-up and lower the risk of chimney fires. A gas fireplace should be serviced if you’re not comfortable with checking it over yourself. Make sure your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are in good working order too.
Check For Frozen Pipes
Whether your home has metal or plastic pipes, when water freezes, it will expand, which can cause your pipes to crack. Pipes exposed to the weather, such as outdoor water valves or valves in colder parts of the house, are the most susceptible to freezing. A simple way to prevent your pipes from freezing is to add insulation. Add pipe sleeves, heat tape, or let your water run a little to keep your pipes from freezing during the coldest months of the year.
