
11 Smart Ways To Prepare Your Home For Winter
It’s just the start of November here and the temperature already dropped to 8-10C during the day and 2-4C during the night. The heating went on over a week ago as well as the floors were getting quite cold during the night already and as the girls spend a lot of time on the floor playing this was a must.
I was hoping that the autumn winter will stay a little longer as I absolutely love autumn weather but I wasn’t that lucky this year…But hey let’s forget the autumn blues! We need to really prepare for winter! I mean my hubby is most of the time away and my dad is getting old and he will not be able to help me so much around the home. So I need to start preparing now before the temperatures will drop below 0 degrees.
Tune Up Your Heating Maintenance
This is very important as you don’t want your central heating to go bust when is really cold outside. It happened to me 3 years ago when for Christmas I had to put on the air conditioning on warm in order to keep the house at a comfortable temperature. And as you know during holidays is pretty hard to find someone available to fix your central heating.
So take care of it now. Hire someone to come and make sure everything is ok now. Some gas companies are actually offering this service anyway but for £40-60 you could hire someone privately.
Seal the windows
We don’t have a lot of normal windows in our home but we still need to make sure our three roof windows are sealed and prepared for the winter especially for the winter days when it snows a lot. There are days when the snow just sits there and the pressure can damage them and believe me you don’t want to end up with the snow in the middle of your kitchen.
Plus if the windows are not are not sealed properly and drafts the heat will go out and the energy bills will go up and that is the last thing you want to happen.
If the gaps between siding and window or door frames are bigger than the width of a nickel than you will need to reapply exterior caulk. That its pretty inexpensive and you or your husband could do it yourselves. Some people cover their windows with thin plastic film and tape it down with waterproof double side tape but for us caulk was quite sufficient.
Or you could simply invest in good, affordable windows like the ones from The Roof Window Store. I really like the ones that imitate the natural pine finish.
Clean the gutters
If you like me live in house that has a lot of trees around than you will really have to do this. I miss the days when we used to live in an apartment and we didn’t have to do all this.
If your gutters are full of leaves or just dirt than water from lots of raining or melting snow can back up against the house and damage the roofing and cause leaks and ice dams.
Clean Your Chimney
Oh I remember when we used to have a “soba” and my dad had to do this. I can’t of miss the small of burnt wood in our home.
If you have a chimney than you will need to clean it before the winter or you will just have to call a professional. This will prevent chimney fires and carbon monoxide from creeping into your home.
Clean Out You Garage
We have quite a messy garage because we are still sharing it with my dad that own it for the last 20 years and he is used to just leave his things around. However your garage needs to be clean and have space for your car in the winter as there will be days when you will no longer be able to keep it outside. Plus believe me you don’t want to have to scrape the ice of it every day or have it stuck in snow.
Plus you will need to hide away all summer products and put t hand all your winter essentials like showers, snow blowers, skis and sleds.
You will also need to procure salt and gravel so that you can use for the really cold days when everywhere will be covered by ice.
Prevent Ice Dams
I love icicles! They look so good! Especially the ones in the trees… In my childhood I use to pick them up and suck them 🙂 I know…Probably not a good thing to do as sometimes they use to be quite dirty! Haha! The memory of it does put a smile on my face so its good haha!
However if you home had a lot of icicles last winter or worse, ice dams you need to take steps to prevent potential damage this year. You know meltwater can back up and flow into your house.
So make sure you call someone that can seal attic air leaks. Prevention is better than fixing always.
Insulate Your Attic
This is a very important step again because the heat can stay inside the house if you do that. We’ve done it when we renovated the house so we don’t need to do this but if you never done it your heating bills could go down this winter if you insulate your attic.
Please do consider that this insulating your home is usually done by professionals and its quite expensive and needs budgeting for. The prices will vary as many things need to be taken into account – type of insulation, labor costs and size of the attic.
Bleed The Radiators
This is something I am unable to do but my husband always does it as he simply hates the noise the radiators can make.
Why do you need to do it though? If your radiators are colder at the top than they are at the bottom, then your radiators have trapped air inside them that’s stopping the heat from circulating properly.
So it’s time to grab a towel and your special key and bleed that radiator! Bleeding the radiators releases the air, allowing the radiator to run more efficiently.
Install A Thermostat
That it’s still something I need to buy for the house. However, we have thermostats at every heater and i find this great as every room can it’s own temperature. We usually keep our bedroom at a lower temperature while the girls bedroom is always warmer as they like sleeping without a quilt on.
The thermostat can save up a lot of fuel by automatically lowering or raising your home’s temperature while you’re away even, It also keeps temperature consistent, saving fuel.
Swap Out Bedding
While you might’ve used only blankets and silky sheet until now it’s time to put those away and take out the quilts and thicker sheets. Wool blankets are great too for this moments when you just feel the chill while watching TV on the couch.
Layer on some throws for extra comfort and warmth come winter.
Stock Up Winter Essentials
In case you will stuck under lots of snow and you will be unable to leave the house just make sure you stock up for winter. I already put pickles, stock up my freezer with grilled peppers and chopped tomatoes. Plus I always make sure I have a few packages of meat in the freezer, flour ,pasta and rice and things like tuna, bakes beans and corn in the cellar.
You never know how bad the weather can get and although these days at least one shop will be open somewhere around you need to make sure you have at least essentials stuff stock up in your home.
*****************?****
I hope my tips were helpful for you. What do you do to prepare your home for winter?
Like this Article? Subscribe to Our Feed!

