Whether you like winter or not, it’s coming, which means we need to prepare for it.
Here are some of our go-to winter-ready ideas that will help keep your home in great shape this winter season.
Clean and prepare your home’s exterior and garden.
This seems simple, but there is a lot to do to prepare your garden for the upcoming season, so it looks its best in spring.
- Start with your lawn by giving it a good rake to get up as many leaves as possible before the snow arrives. Once this is done, we recommend you apply a winter fertilizer in late November, early December. This is the last application of fertilizer of the year and should have a high nitrogen level as it is designed to help lawns store more food for winter survival and encourage thick and rapid growth and rooting in the spring.
- Add mulch or special coverings, like burlap, to plants that may be sensitive to the cold to protect them from the snow and winter winds.
- Move any delicate planters and garden decorations to a sheltered storage area to keep them protected.
- Cover outdoor furniture or store it away to help with the longevity of the materials.
- Remove clutter from around your downspouts and ensure your foundation and hydrometers are unobstructed. Similarly, ensure you perform an end-of-the-year cleaning of your gutters and flat roofs, keeping them free from debris that can cause backups, leaks, and extensive water damage to your home.
- Turn outside water off from the primary source to ensure these exterior pipes do not freeze and break over the winter. A broken pipe in the spring can cause a lot of damage to your home’s foundation, garage, etc.
Check your Windows and Doors for leaks.
Finding out that cold air is coming in through windows and doors amid a hard freeze is the worst time to learn about leaks!
We recommend doing a quick and easy air leak test before the cold winter months arrive.
The easiest way to perform this test is by a visual inspection. For example, if you can rattle or move a locked window or door or see daylight from around the frame, you probably have an air leak. Most of these air leaks can be fixed by caulking or weatherstripping the area.
Here are some areas for both the exterior and interior of your home to check for air leaks:
Exterior
• All exterior corners
• Outdoor water faucets
• Where siding and chimneys meet
• Areas where the foundation and the bottom of exterior brick or siding meet
Interior
• Electrical outlets and switch plates
• Door and window frames
• Electrical and gas service entrances
• Baseboards
• Weather stripping around exterior doors
• Fireplace dampers
• Attic hatches
• Wall- or window-mounted air conditioners.
• Cable TV and phone lines
• Where dryer vents pass through walls
• Vents and fans
We also recommend checking pipes and wires for gaps, the foundation walls inside your home, and seals that lead to the outside. Next, check if the caulking and weather stripping are applied properly, leaving no gaps or cracks, and are in good condition. Finally, check the exterior caulking around doors and windows and see whether exterior storm doors and primary doors seal tightly.
Book your winter maintenance: Ducts, Dryer, Furnace and Fireplace
Air Ducts
We all get those annoying calls, “Hi sir, do you want your ducts cleaned?” and the answer is always NO! Let’s face it, no one WANTS to spend money on cleaning their ducts, AND those calls are intrusive. BUT… having your ducts cleaned after a renovation and/or before winter arrives is mandatory for us.
Dust, pollen, animal hair, and debris build up in our air vents over the year, which can dramatically reduce the air quality in your home. When we push warm or hot air into our ducts, these particles release into our home’s air.
Dryer Vents
It is easy to have your dryer vent cleaned out when your ducts get cleaned. Dryer vents can build up debris quickly and can prevent your dryer from being as efficient as it can be. And while the numbers are not staggering (we could not find a source for Canadian homes), there are approximately 3,000 home fires each year from dryer vents that have gone unattended and unmaintained.
Furnace and Water Heater
The first thing that you should have planned is to change your furnace filter. Depending on the size of your furnace filter, you should be changing it every 3-4 months.
Late fall is also a great time to book your furnace health check or maintenance check-up to ensure your furnace is running at its best. We also recommend you check your water heater at the same time – it’s convenient, and like your furnace, you don’t want a surprise break down when it’s -15 outside!
Wood-Burning Fireplace
If you have a wood-burning fireplace, it is essential to have it cleaned each year before you begin to use it. Failure to regularly inspect, repair, and clean a chimney can cause it to malfunction or collect dangerous build-up (creosote) that can put your family at risk.
A blocked chimney can cause smoke damage inside your home and cause additional build-up inside the chimney walls. And if enough creosote1 builds and the temperature is high enough, the creosote can catch fire, which can spread quickly up (and down) the chimney walls.
Be ready for the first snowfall
With the first snowfall comes a mad dash to the store to get sidewalk salt, shovels and car window brushes, and inevitably, one or all of these items are sold out!
Be prepared by ensuring you have enough salt on hand for at least two snowfalls, keeping you and those walking in front of your home safe from ice. And, you don’t want to get caught out without a snow brush in the car as that can lead to dangerous driving.
Having these winter essentials – as well as your snow tires on your vehicle – ready before the first snowfall will help you feel more prepared for winter.
Ensuring your home is winter-ready is just as important as having a warm coat ready to wear when the temperature drops. Being aware of these critical things to be mindful of may prevent you from an unexpectedly cold night because your furnace died or needing an air leak repaired when your local contractors are booked.
We’ll have more tips on getting your home winter-ready next week!
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1 This highly flammable, dark brown substance coats chimney walls when by-products of fire (smoke, vapour, and unburned wood) condense as they move from the hot fireplace or wood stove into the cooler chimney