Tips for Winterizing Your Home

It has been a frigid winter here on the east coast, and we have officially seen snow. If you didn’t want to believe that winter was coming and you decided not to winterize your home, you may be experiencing some regrets as the temperatures have dropped below freezing. You may also be asking yourself, what does it mean to winterize your home and why should you do it. You should prepare your home for cold weather for many reasons. A few of these reasons include frozen or busted pipes, fire prevention, energy efficiency, carbon monoxide poisoning, and of course, to save money. Protect your home, your family and your bank account this winter by following these helpful tips to prevent winter nightmares.

1. Be Sure to Clean Your Gutters
• Water and snow can build up in your gutters causing ice dams to formulate. It is important to keep your gutters clean allowing a free flow which will protect your roof from potential damage or even collapsing.

2. Protect Your Pipes
• If your pipes freeze, they have the potential to crack or burst. This can lead to catastrophic damages such as flooding that often time causes severe damage to the structure of a home as well as it creates a potential for mold. As you can see, frozen pipes can not only be a headache, but a pure financial disaster. As many people are previously aware, allowing your faucet to drip continuously is a great method of prevention. It is also wise to insulate your pipes, or to wrap them in heat tape or heat cables. You should also make sure that the area around your pipes is completely sealed and insulated. Lastly, leaving your cabinet doors open allows the heat from inside your home to keep your pipes warm.
• In the unfortunate case that your pipes are already frozen, you can follow some of these tips to thaw them out. If you turn on your faucet and nothing comes out, you should leave the faucets on and call a plumber. If you would like to try your best efforts at thawing your pipes on your own, you can try to use a blow dryer. You should start as close to the faucet as you can and work your way to the coldest area on the pipe. You should avoid doing this if there is any standing water near the pipe, as this provides the potential for electrocution. You should also avoid using any type of open flame to thaw your pipes because, well, you would hate to burn down your home! In the case that your pipes have not only frozen, but they have already burst, you should locate the water shut off valve in your home and turn it off, while doing this, leave your faucets turned on. In this instance, you should call a plumber and if you rent, notify your landlord of the situation immediately.

3. Keep the Cold Air Out
• If your home is not very well insulated, cold air, bugs and moisture can creep into your home, all the while, money is creeping out. Air can make its way into your home through door frames, windows and window frames, attic spaces, and pipes that lead to the outdoors.
First, you should identify any areas in your home where air is seeping through. Once you have done this, you will know what items you will need to keep your home protected from the cold. If air is coming in through your door frame, there are a few different solutions to consider. Draft guards for your door frames are very helpful. You can buy these at stores like Walmart, Bed Bath & Beyond, or online on sites such as Amazon. If you do not want to spend money on a draft guard, you can improvise with a rolled up towel or another piece of thick fabric. You can also apply weather stripping or foam tape to door and window frames. This is inexpensive and relatively easy to install. If you feel that your windows are a specific area of concern, you can apply a window film in order to seal a drafty window. You should also consider hanging insulated curtains which is also an easy and rather inexpensive solution. Caulking outside your home around windows and doors is another method of keeping cold air out. All of these solutions should be helpful in keeping your home warm and cozy, but they all help to use energy more efficiently, as well, which saves you money.

4. Fire Prevention
• In the winter months, it is always exciting to sit back and relax with a cup of hot chocolate by the fireplace. This can, however, be a dangerous thing. There are steps that you can take to prepare your fireplace so that you can enjoy a fire without concern. You should start by having your chimney checked for birds, bird nests, and anything else that does not belong in your chimney. You should also have your chimney checked for “creosote,” which is a highly flammable coating that is often times left behind by previous fires.
• Many people do not have central heating, nor do they have a fireplace. In this case, a space heater is extremely convenient. The problem with space heaters is that they can be very dangerous and are the culprit behind many house fires every winter. You should always refuel your space heater outside and far away from your home. You should never leave your space heater unattended in any case. You should keep your space heater away from furniture, curtains, any water sources, and anything that could be considered flammable. You should also make sure that children and animals are not allowed near your space heater for their safety, as well as for the safety of the home. You should always make sure that your space heater is unplugged when it is not in use.
• If a fire should take place, you would certainly want your fire detectors to be working, so you should make sure that all of your fire detectors and carbon monoxide detectors have batteries and are connected and working.

We hope that these tips will help to keep you safe and warm out there during this harsh winter!