NOTE: Read more about Winterizing Your Home, By Elizabeth Weintraub at About.com

http://homebuying.about.com/od/buyingahome/qt/92607_WinterHom.htm

 Your Winter To Do List

It is a bright, crisp, chilly Saturday in New England and, as I sit by my picture window (which affords me great sunlight and really cold air) my thoughts go toward getting homes ready for winter!

Many of you are the responsible and organized home owners who have already gotten your homes ready for winter but for those of you who, like me, cling to autumn as long as possible by denying that winter is coming, it is not too late to protect your  home, protect your visitors, and do your best to eliminate higher heating costs.

Lowering Your Utility Bills

  1. Houses with foundations (in the Ocean State we have many houses on stilts and pilings): Using insulating foam, seal the area between the house and foundation. There is a considerable amount of heat that is lost at this point in the house.

  2. Take out your screens and put in your storm windows. Consider thermal drapes if you dont already have them (in picture windows and houses with many windows it makes a considerble difference).

  3. For older windows consider sealing the window with plastic.

  4. Use insulating caulk or clay in loose fitting panes and frames

  5. Consider throw rugs for hard wood floors. This is especially helpful if you have rooms over garages or crawl spaces

  6. Close registers in rooms that you seldom visit

  7. Add weather stripping to the bottoms of exterior doors and check the viability of the stripping around storm doors. Where doors dont fit snugly into their frames, add foam tape or insulating caulk to prevent drafts.

  8. If you do not have a programmable thermostat, consider getting one. It remembers to lower the heat when you are not home (even if you do not).

  9. Add humidity to the dry winter air, you can keep a pot on the stove or on a register or you can purchase humidifier(s) for your home. There is some controversy as to whether humidifiers attached to furnaces and using furnace ducts is a good idea or is bad for the health of the ducts so talk to whomever services your furnace and get their opinion before you go that way.

Take Care of Your Home

  1. Clean your gutters and downspouts. Run water down each downspout to make sure it is not clogged.

  2. Consider gutter guards or screens. I have spokent to several roofers and contractors and the concensus is that screens (when installed correctly) are sufficient and much cheaper.

  3. Replace any cracked or loose panes of glass

  4. If you have a wood pile make sure it sits away from your house so that termites and carpenter ants dont jump the ship!

  5. With that in mind, remove yard debris and leaves from along the house too.

  6. If you live in a freeze-thaw zone, winter is a great time to check the ground around the foundation - does it slope away from the foundation? If not, water can seep into your foundation and then freeze. Frozen water expands and that can damage your foundation’s integrity.

  7. Another freeze-thaw issue is window wells! If I had a dollar for every rotted or cracking basement window frame I could hire someone to write my blog :) . Remove debris from the well and cover the well so that precipitation runs away from the window well.

  8. Check your deck and remove debris from it. Falling leaves, precipitation, and winter conditions can really do a number on the wood and the nails - so even if you have Trex Decking, take care!

  9. Check the roof and roofline for shingles that need to be reattached or replaced. And while you are at it, have a chimney sweep check the cap on your chimney and, if you have a fireplace or heat stove, have the chimney cleaned.

Protecting Your Visitors (and Yourself!)

  1. Sweep and scrub or power wash your sidewalks and driveways. Remove leaves and debris. It will make it easier to shovel when there is snow and easier to navigate when there is not.

  2. Add lighting where needed - it gets dark much earlier this time of year.

  3. Remember that you are, in most communities, responsible for the walks that run in front of your property as well so make sure those are shoveled and de-iced. If you think you are not responsible for that, check with your town’s public works department just to make sure.

  4. Use a welcome mat or weather-proof runner so that guests can clean their shoes before stepping on to slippery surfaces like hardwoods and ceramic tile (or precious surfaces like your new carpet).

  5. And finally, contact your area’s preparedness office or town hall to see if they have a recommended emergency  preparedness kit that is specific to your climate and the issues that you are likely to face.

What are your recommendations? Become a published author by posting your thoughts to this article!