Home is where your heart is, they say. And your heart always wants the best for your home. If you want to keep your house good as new, maintenance is the key. Maintaining your house is never a challenging task if done regularly. But with winter, your home demands some extra care.
Winters are cold and can be harsh for everyone. Even houses. If you want to go the extra mile for the place where you live, here are some maintenance tips that will help you through this cold season.
Look out for poor sealing
One of the biggest winter struggles is cold air coming into the house, even with closed windows and doors. This situation often leaves many people scratching their heads in confusion. But the answer is simple, poor sealing. Inadequate insulation causes cold air to enter through cracks in the roof and walls that are difficult to identify initially. Sometimes the sealing around doors and windows too wears out overtime allowing the chill to flow inside.
Checking for poor sealing and fixing it before winter kicks in can help you keep your house warm and cozy. The process is straightforward. All you need to do is light an incense stick and hold it close to any part of the home you want to check for cracks and crevices. Typically, the smoke from the stick will rise straight. But if you find the smoke whirling, you have poor sealing to fix.
Put away the seasonal tools and belongings
Decluttering is an essential home maintenance task that one should do year-round. But t’s more crucial in winters as we tend to get lazy, and unwanted things can accumulate pretty fast. Gardening tools such as trimmers and lawnmowers are useful in other seasons. But in winters, they are of little to no use. It would be best to put them away.
Similarly, it would be best to put away anything else you don’t need in winter in a store. If you don’t have enough storage space in your home, you can always put them away in a self-storage unit. Renting facilities such as the storage units Keller tx offers various sizes and all the essential amenities to keep your personal belongings safe.
Remove ice dams from your roof
Do you live in a city where it snows often? If yes, you need to be wary of ice dams forming along your roof. The overhangs present on the top of your house sometimes prevent water from draining completely. The standing water freezes and forms ice dams. Not only do ice dams affect the heating in your home, but they also lead to damage to the property in the long run. Clearing ice from the overhangs of your roof and installing heated cables can help you get rid of this nuisance.
Check for frozen pipes
In icy areas, the water running through your pipes can sometimes freeze. This is hugely problematic because when water freezes, it expands, leading to the pipes bursting. And if you think that you’re safe because you have metal pipes installed at your place, you’re wrong. Metal pipes can rupture as well. To prevent pipes from freezing, you can install pipe sleeves or heating tape on them. Or simply allow water to run through them now and then by turning on the taps.
Don’t let the gutters clog
It is common for people to stop checking on their gutters during winters because no one really likes stepping outside in the cold! While it is not as common for drains to clog during the season, the chances of it happening are still present. If you don’t check for blockage, you’re risking damaging your house’s foundation, ceilings, and walls. To keep your home safe, all you need to do is take some time out to check and clean your gutters to make sure nothing blocks the flow of water.
Air filters need regular checks too
HVAC appliances need regular maintenance to function. You can cut down on maintenance and energy costs by adding one simple step to your winter house maintenance routine. Keep a check on the air filters. These filters collect dirt and dust very quickly. Cleaning this dirt can help you enhance your HVAC appliances’ lifespan and improve the air quality inside your home during winters. This will also provide you with the added benefit of better heating during cold days.
Conclusion
Taking care of the place you live in is your responsibility. If you carry out seasonal maintenance for your home, you can easily avoid long-term damage. From decluttering to checking your air filters to cleaning the ice regularly, it’s the simple things that can enable you to enjoy a comfortably warm and stress-free winter.
