Prepare Your Home for Winter

Is your home prepared for the winter days ahead? Winterizing your home will help prevent damage, reduce electricity costs and improve energy efficiency.

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Prevent cold air and moisture from entering your home.
Consider installing weather stripping around your doors and windows. To further prevent cold air from entering around the window frame areas, be sure to check all your windows and replace old cracked caulking beads. Adding adequate insulation
                               in your attic will prevent cold air from entering through the ceiling.

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Improve energy efficiency to help reduce electricity costs.
Insulate your water heater with a water heater blanket to eliminate heat loss, make it more efficient and in turn, help you save money on your gas/electric bills. Replace or clean all your home air filters to increase air quality and decrease how hard
                                      the HVAC system has to work. Run your ceiling fans in reverse, a
​                                      clockwise direction, to circulate heat and improve efficiency.

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Prevent freezing pipes.
Add insulation around your exterior water pipes to keep them from freezing. If your pipes do freeze, it can cause one of the lines to burst, resulting in costly damages. Be sure you know where the main shut off valve is.

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Prepare your fireplace and chimney for use.
Make sure your home’s chimney vents and flues are clean and safe to use. If your fireplace has 1/8 of an inch buildup, this is a good indication it needs to be cleaned. Buildup can become flammable, causing house fires.​​

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Avoid exterior damage to your home.
Inspect the outside area of your home and remove all low-hanging tree branches that may fall during an ice or snow storm. It is also important to clean your gutters of dirt and leaves. This will help remove water from your roof and avoid causing damage to the gutters.

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