Yesterday we talked about some of the preparations you need to make to your home before winter hits. This is called winterization and helps to prevent any damage that may be caused by the harsher winter months. We talked about how your roof is susceptible to leaks, and a couple signs to look for when you're going through your winterization checklist. If you want to reread it or if you missed yesterday article, you can find Plan to Winterize Part I here.
Today we continue with the winterization process talking about what you need to look for and check on the side paneling of your home as well as what you need to do to make sure you are warm and safe this winter.
Without further adieu, the list continues!
Home structure & Siding
Check that the siding and other structural parts of your home is sturdy and healthy.
Each year we see homeowners deal with this problem. The causes vary from home to home, but often it's a pest or plumbing problem. Check that you don't have any soft walls on the outside of your home. If you feel siding that gives, chances are there is s a problem that has gone unnoticed for some time and is finally showing signs of wear and tear.
A perfect example of this is if you have plants in very close proximity to your home. Sprinkler systems may be spraying your house in addition to your beautiful garden. The problem is that with the wall getting wet every day, it causes the siding to deteriorate. This can lead to some serious problems if insects decide the softened wood is a perfect home for their new colony.
Repairing the damage is crucial to the home integrity, but you do really need to tackle the cause of the problem as well. This can be as involved as replacing a leaking pipe or as simple as adjusting your sprinkler heads.
Check that your paint is not chipping or flaking.
The paint of your home is like the skin on our body. It is the first line of defense against moisture, pests, and the weather your home braves each day to keep you safe and comfortable. With that in mind, it's very important that the paint and other wood treatments you may be using on your home. Don't forget about any stains you may have put on decks, patios or stairways. Just like paint, stains protect the wood from absorbing water, which prevents the wood from rotting. Some products are better at preserving than others, but they all wear off eventually and need to be reapplied to ensure the longevity of your home.
Fireplaces & Heaters
Don't forget about Santa! (Clean that chimney)
We all know that Santa's favorite entrance into your home is through the chimney. What the story books fail to convey is how important cleaning your chimney is! It's a huge fire risk if you do not clean your chimney.
Over time, your chimney collects what is called creosote. It is the black tar-like substance that builds up on the interior walls of your chimney when you burn wood. This build up is worse if you don't have enough oxygen getting to the flames in your fireplace. Not having enough oxygen causes a fire to smoke and smolder. All fires will always leave behind creosote buildup regardless of how oxygen rich your fire is. A healthy fire (one that is not smoldering and smokey) leaves much less creosote buildup, but the creosote still builds up which is why it's imperative that the chimney gets cleaned. A clean chimney greatly reduces the risk of a fire in your home.
There is no magic number for when to clean your chimney as there is a variety of wood you can burn and not everyone burns wood at the same pace. With regular winter us, it is a good idea to clean the chimney out annually. Some may be able to clean it out every other year with less use, but the 30-60 minutes it takes to clean your chimney (or the five minutes it takes to call someone to clean it) can save you much heartache and stress by preventing a fire.
Stack that wood away from the house!
Nothing beats the warmth of a fire. For those who have grown up with a wood fire stove instead of central air systems and heaters, the difference is quite noticeable. However with that complete warmth emanating from the cozy fireplace within, the wood you use to keep the fire alight could be a giant welcome mat for insects into your home.
Make sure that when you stack your wood, that it is not sitting directly on the ground. When wood is on the ground itself, all sorts of insects start making the wood their home. This is bound to happen no matter where you put the wood, however it is much worse if the wood is resting on dirt instead of resting on a pallet. Just by lifting the wood up off the ground those few inches helps to keep the bugs and spiders from making your woodpile their homes.
In addition to raising your wood off the ground, it's important to not have it rest against your home. Leave a foot or two of space between the exterior wall of your home and the pallet your pile rests on. This will keep the pests from using the woodpile as an expressway into your home.
Service your HVAC System
Often we only associate our HVAC system with cooling the house don, but in fact it plays just as important of a role in keeping the home warm during the winter months. There is routine maintenance that needs to be done to your system each year.
This includes changing the filter and checking that all the ducts and systems are working efficiently. An inefficient system results in very high energy bills, so while an inspection and maintenance may seem like a waste of money to some homeowners, it can really pay off if you keep up.
Some of this maintenance can be done yourself, but to really ensure that the system is running efficiently you need to contact a trusted company to evaluate your home.
Getting Help
This is by no means a complete list, but it's a great place to get started and hopefully you now have some great tips and ideas to make your home winterization easy and effective. If you still have additional questions feel free to call, email or comment below and we can get the answers for you. If you're looking to have all of these tasks completed by a professional, I know some great people that would love to help you this season.
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