Winter is here and for people living at places that witness extreme cold in winter, it is important to take proper precautions from early on. You must prepare yourself and your home for the upcoming winter months. Starting from getting your winter clothes ready to stacking your home with all the bare necessities, you must be prepared to welcoming the winter weather. It is not that even after all of these preparations you will not face any problems but at least prior preparation will make you both mentally and physically ready to face the chilly windy and snowy days.
Since winter is already knocking at the door, today I thought of discussing about how to prepare home for winter weather. If you are living at pace that gets excessive cold then here’s the post you should check. Today, I am going to talk in detail about how to prepare home for winter weather.
Most of the times, winters seasons become very unpredictable. Severe storms accompany snowfall and can even destroy property. So, it gets extremely risky at times.
So, not just the interior of your home, but the area surrounding your home must also be taken care of it. Like for example, the pipes, your roof, exterior windows, your garden etc.
Now, accidents can happen anytime even after you take precautions but keeping yourself prepared from before somehow instills the courage within you to face drastic weather changes.
You may not like the scorching sun rays during summer but when you literally have to face 6 freezing winter months, it is the same sun rays you will crave for. So, those who are living in places having a soothing winter, it is not much of a great deal for them but for individuals who live in places that experience extreme winter, it is advisable that you prepare home for winter weather and take necessary measure to enjoy the beauty of winter weather.
7 Best tips to prepare home for winter season
Each season has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. And in order to face the extremities of winter weather, you have to take measures and prepare your home well in advance, so that it is ready to face the harsh winter weather.
Today’s cause of concern is the extreme winter and hence I am sharing a few of the best tips to prepare home for winter season. It’s especially going to be very useful for people who live in countries or cities with extreme cold winter weather.
These tips will be all the more necessary for you to know in case you (with no prior experience of extreme winter) have just shifted to a place which sees extreme winter season.
So are you ready to explore how to prepare home for winter weather?
I heard you saying yes, so let’s get started.
Protect the pipes
One of the first things that you need to do in order to prepare your home for winter is giving proper protection to the pipes. The reason behind protecting the pipes is very simple. We all are aware of the fact that when water gets frozen, it actually expands. So, when the water inside your pipes will freeze due to the extreme cold outside, there is every possibility that the pipes may crack and burst. In fact, the pipes may also burst when there is too much pressure getting build up behind any chunk of ice. Now, if pipes burst, it is going to cause massive damage, so you need to apply the following steps to avoid such situation:
- Try to drain the water from the faucets or the sprinkler systems that are outdoor to not let the pipes freeze.
- Try to disconnect and store outdoor hoses.
- You may use foam insulators to cover the outdoor faucets.
- The water pipes that run through the unheated spaces of your home like garage, attic or basement can be protected using insulation.
Check the furnace
Before the winter gets too cold; it is advisable that you check the heat inside your home. You need to check your furnace by turning the heat and the blowers on to be double sure that they are operating perfectly, because that is very much needed to keep yourself warm through the cold winter months.
- In case there is any problem then make sure you change the filters at the beginning of the winter season and repeat the process every 3-4 months. This is because filters generally get dirtier in case you home is dusty or if you have feathery or furry pets at home. And, dirty and clogged ones will not work much efficiently leading to your home getting not much warm which will become a cause of concern during winter. So, please check all of these things before the arrival of extreme winter weather.
- You may even consider installing a programmable thermostat if you do not have one at your home. The good thing is you can program it to be cooler when you are not at home or do not need it which will save a lot of your money and then again program it to be warmer when you return home or in case you are feeling too cold.
Use ceiling fans the right way
Now, you may be thinking how come the question of fan comes during winter. Well, if you think that the ceiling fans are just meant for summer, then you are wrong. This is because you can try out an innovative way to use the fans during winters as well. All you need to do is to reverse the direction of your fans. To be more specific, if you set the blades of your ceiling fans clockwise then it will circulate warm air and will help you stay warm during the winter months.
Inspect fireplace and chimney
Do proper inspection of fireplace and the chimney at your home. You need to inspect your fireplace and chimney before you light them up. This is because they may be unclean and full of critter if you have not used them for a long time. In fact, if you do not clean up the soot and other debris, then it may catch fire. So, you need to be very careful before using it.
However, during winter always remember to keep the flue closed when you are not using chimney otherwise all of the warm air inside your home will escape. You may also use chimney inflatable or install glass fireplace doors that will block cold air from coming down your chimney.
Seal the doors and windows
You cannot afford to have leaks or any cracks on your doors and windows during winter because that will enable the outside cold to come inside. Therefore, it is important for you to make sure that you seal these gaps. You may also install weather stripping around the doors and windows. This is a very minor and inexpensive technique that will help you a lot to keep your home warmer, even in harsh winter weather.
In case your doors and windows are old and are single pane, they may not be that efficient in keeping your home warm. So, you may even upgrade them to double or triple-pane windows and make the doors insulated to give a perfect boost to the energy efficiency of your home.
Stock cold-weather essentials
One of the important tips to prepare home for winter is to stock up all the cold-weather essentials. Firstly, you cannot miss out on warm clothes and then may buy some basic food items in bulk quantities. Then you can take note of the emergency kit. By emergency kit, I mean the cold-weather specific items, some of which are mentioned below:
- A working and fully charged fire extinguisher
- Then, any alternative heat source, like for example, wood-burning stove, generator, fireplace etc.
- Ice-melt, sand and a shovel especially if you live in a place where winter experience lot of snowfall.
Prevent formation of ice dams
Ice dams are generally formed when the heat escape through the roof of your home and melts snow that settles there. Now, that snowmelt further flows to the edge of your home and freezes again usually at the eaves leading to an ugly ice dam underneath. This actually creates a problem when the snow that later on melts cannot get drained properly and often goes through any leak in your roof causing a lot of water damage in your home. So, you need to prevent it from occurring. And, to get it done, you may follow the below steps:
- One of the primary causes behind the occurrence of ice damps is clogged gutters and downspouts. So, it is important that you clean them so that water keeps flowing during the winter.
- Make sure you seal the places that allow warm air to leak from your home to your attic like around exhaust fans, vent pipes, light fixtures, attic hatches, chimneys etc.
- Keep the vents that are along the eaves of your home and allows the air to flow into the attic clean.
To avoid the problem, you may take some additional steps as well:
- Consider installing snow and ice slides to prevent the snow and the ice from bonding on your roof.
- A rubberized ice and water shield may also be installed beneath the roof shingles, going 3 to 6 feet back from the eaves.
- You may hire a roofer for installation of heat cable along the eaves for ice to melt.
- You may also add an additional filter to the attic floor of your home.
Over to you: How do you prepare your home for winter?
Winter is already round the corner and it is time that you get prepared for it more so, if you a resident of a place which experiences quite a strong winter. And, if the place also sees heavy rainfall, then additional preparation is required.
In some places, winter is so cold that the safest place is to stay indoors most of the time. Of course, you need to go out doing your daily work but the rest of the time most people prefer staying indoors to avoid the freezing cold outside.
Therefore, you will have to make your home comforting and warm so that you will feel warm and relaxed indoors. But, sometimes your home may have leaks and cracks that may allow the outdoor cold to come inside making the interior atmosphere chilly, hence you need to do proper inspection of your home from beforehand and do the necessary repairing before it gets too cold.
We have already discussed about the 7 important ways to prepare your home to face harsh winter weather. Basically, these are the basic steps that must be considered to make your home winter ready. Then there may be some additional steps that you may have to take up depending on the condition of your home. Remember that keeping your home warm is the main objective and of primary importance here, and so there is no need to invest in other home decorating things and instead concentrate on the main things first.
Also, note that it is not just the interior of your home that must be taken care of while preparing it to face harsh winter season. But you also need to take note of the external items or the area surrounding your home like the external pipes, the roof, garden (if you have one) etc.
I hope that you will use these tips to prepare home for this winter and I am sure it’s going to help you get it right. After all, I have tried covering most of the basic problems you may face if you do not inspect your home properly before winter.
Still, I want you guys to share your feedback and suggestions on today’s post. Also, if you have any other effective tips on how to prepare home for winter, then feel free to share.
And finally you can also give me topic suggestions in case you want me to write on a specific home improvement topic.
Until then, stay safe and stay warm this winter.
