Can A Comprehensive Seasonal Checklist Help Winter-Proof Your Home?
It’s that time of the year once more. The sun is setting faster, evening lasts longer, and the temperature is starting to drop and stay low.
Winter is coming, and pretty soon we’re going to have to start worrying about snowfall and staying warm both indoors and outdoors. Now is the time when homeowners start looking at their residences and thinking about making some changes for the upcoming season.
While it’s possible to just carry on as normal and not do anything to your home, making appropriate winter preparations can make you safer, more comfortable, and even lower your utility bills! Here are a few things you can do to make that seasonal transition.
Inspect Your Home Alarms
Hopefully, you’ve got fire alarms and carbon monoxide alarms in your home. If you’re lucky, you may even have a more recent alarm system that does both in the same unit.
While some people may view these pieces of equipment as a “waste of money” since they don’t plan on starting fires or filling their homes with gas, these items, while not doing much most of the time, can be critical to saving your life one day.
But that’s only if they work! Depending on how recent your alarms are, you may be lucky, and your alarm will give off its own signal to let you know when the battery power is getting low. If you don’t have a model like this, just check out your alarms individually and test them to ensure they’re still beeping. If they’re not, it’s time for some new batteries.
Buy Some De-Icing Salt
It’s not just considerate; it also makes your home safer for you and your family members. When the snowfall is lighter, and can easily be cleared out.
However, when the ice is starting to form on the sidewalk outside your home, driveway, and home plumbing systems, de-icing salt is the perfect solution. Once you spread this out, the de-icing salt will literally melt any ice and snow that tries to form on your sidewalk.
As it creates a layer of salt water, it will continue to melt any snow that touches it, and effectively prevent ice from forming. A perfect, efficient solution to having a clear sidewalk when it’s not snowing a ton.
Check Your Insulation & Ventilation
Is your insulation as good as it could be, or could it stand to be improved? Do you have insulation everywhere, or only in your roof? What about your ventilation? Is it still clear and working correctly, or is there a blockage somewhere?
Try to find the answers to these questions. Good insulation keeps your home warm, but, more importantly, it keeps your heating bills lower, as your furnace doesn’t need to work as hard or as long.
New insulation techniques can keep your walls from leaking heat, reduce drafts from windows, and save you on bills. Ventilation, on the other hand, ensures that air is leaving where it’s supposed to, or being taken in as required. If these vents get blocked, it severely impacts your heating and cooling efficiency, so make sure they stay clear!
Just keep these suggestions in mind, and your next winter here in Falls Church, VA will be safer, warmer, and enjoy greater energy efficiency that will translate to lower bills every month!
