Sealing Home For Winter

Autumn is a prelude to the coming winters. While winter is a favorite season for almost all the people, it becomes more enjoyable once you have geared up for it. As autumn comes, it is important to start preparing your home for the coming chill. This might sound strange, but every house requires maintenance to keep it in excellent shape all through the winters. Right from a miniscule thing like getting your winter instruments serviced to keeping the furnace, fireplace, attic and even the lawns up to the mark, your house requires a thorough check. In the following lines, we have provided information to help you in sealing your home for the upcoming winter season. 

The first attempt towards sealing your home for winters would be to call an engineer and let him inspect your furnace and clean ducts. Store furnace filters and during winters, change them every month. Remember to remove any kind of inflammable products from the area surrounding the furnace.

 

To get the fireplace ready, the first thing would be to place screen on the top of the chimney, to keep out birds and rodents. Make sure that the chimney has been cleaned and the soot and creosote removed. In advance, collect and store some firewood in a dry place.

Check the exterior of the house for any cracks or fissures and get them sealed, if any. Cover the doors and windows with weather stripping, so that the cold air has no chance of entering the house. For the basement windows, cover them with plastic shields.

Add extra insulation to the attic, as it would prevent warm air from creeping to your roof, thus causing ice dams. Before winter arrives, replace any worn out tile or shingle. As for the gutters and downspouts, clear all the debris. A leaf guard installation would also prevent the passing of water directly from the house.

Gear up all the winter instruments before the arrival of the chill. Get your snow blowers serviced. Along with that, replace worn rakes and snow shovels. At the same time, get the ice choppers sharpened and buy bags of ice-melt or sand. 

Checking the attic is also necessary, when it comes to preparing for the upcoming winters. Clear it of any debris or rubble. Also, seal up any space that would can allow small animals like mice, rat, etc inside. Along with this, inspect sill plates for any form of dry rot or pest infestation.

In case of countries where the winters are freezing, a smoke detector is required. In such a case, keep extra batteries of smoke detectors at hand. Also, put in a carbon monoxide detector near your furnace. However, test them beforehand, so as to be sure that they work.

It is often seen that during winters, water freezes in the pipes. Ensure that you have drained all the water from the garden hoses. Find out the main pipe of water, incase you have to shut it during an emergency. As for the exposed plumbing pipes, insulate them. In case you are holidaying at this time, leave the heat on at 55 degrees F. 

Just like the inside of the house, protecting the outside from chills is also very important. Trim the trees, if they have grown in size, to prevent them from winter injury. As for the delicate pots, bring them inside the house. 

Prepare an Emergency Kit
Apart from all the preparation, it is still advisable to keep an emergency kit handy. In this, put some candles, phone numbers of your utility companies, battery back-up to protect your electronic equipment, extra bottled water, non-perishable food supplies, blankets and a first-aid kit. Once this is done, you are all set to enjoy the chilly winters!