Winters can cause a lot of damage to your property over time, which is why regular maintenance is so important. Think of maintaining your home a lot like maintaining a garden. Before winter hits, you will likely go through and snip unwanted branches, cover shrubs, and otherwise prepare your garden so that, come spring, everything can bloom to life like the year before. With your home, however, problems only get worse if you don’t fix them. That is why before this next winter sets in, you should go through these steps to prepare your home.
Monitor Your Home for Any Damages and Fix Them
Every bit of damage on your property can become worse during the winter. This is particularly true if you live in an area that experiences freezing temperatures or snowfall. If you have a damaged fence, for example, that damage will only become worse as the winters go by. Water can get between cracks and expand as it freezes, worsening the problem and even turning a fence repair job into a fence replacement job. By monitoring your home and making fixes as needed, you can prolong the overall life of your property with ease.
Protect Your Pipes
One of the worst situations is that it gets so cold outside that your pipes freeze. It usually occurs in areas that have their pipes above ground, instead of buried. Perhaps currently, your winters are milder, but with changing climates, this could change. Get your pipes properly insulated to ensure running water throughout the winter.
Improve or Replace Windows and Doors
Doors and windows release the most heat in your home and therefore should be the first place that you look to improve your home’s efficiency and overall comfort. Replace all single pane windows with either double or triple paned windows. Fix any damages in the frames, or, if those are beyond your budget, use thick curtains to retain heat during the nights.
Use Carpets and Thick Curtains to Retain Heat
Carpets, curtains, and even tapestries can all help retain heat without touching the overall exterior of your home. If you rent, or cannot afford to have installation put in, this can be a great way to reduce your energy bills and to maximize your overall heating efforts for longer.
Improve Your Home Heating System
A good home heating system should be able to turn off and on by itself. It means it should be able to turn off when your home has reached the desired temperature, and it should turn off when you aren’t using it, for example, when you are at work, or your children are at school. You can also lower your home’s temperature at night when you are all sleeping by using thick covers and easy tactics like thick curtains to keep bedrooms warm without actively heating them.
Using less energy is the most obvious way to reduce your home heating bills, but you never want to do that at risk of your family. Follow this guide to protect your home and keep your family safe and comfortable this, and every winter forward.
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