How to Winterize Your Atlanta GA Home for sale.
Brrrrr! Temperatures are dropping fast. If your vacant Atlanta area home is on the market for sale this winter, you could be facing more cold days than is typical for a Georgia home seller.
Why bother to winterize your Atlanta GA home for sale?
To avoid costly frozen pipe damage, it's important to properly winterize your property to prevent it from deteriorating while you're waiting for the right buyer to purchase and close on the home. Otherwise, broken pipes caused by unusually frigid temperatures and improper winterizing, may leak and flood the house as soon as the water is turned back on.
Who should winterize your Atlanta GA home for sale?
Unless you know what you are doing, it might be best to ask around to find a reputable company to winterize your Atlanta GA home for sale. But choose carefully. Some companies just turn off the water at the street and only drain the water heater and go though the house opening faucets to drain the water out of the piping. This will drain some of the water, but not all. There may still be areas in the piping located below the lowest faucet that will not be drained. Not to mention areas such as refrigerator ice maker water lines, jetted tub piping and washing machine water hoses. As this is shaping up to be a long, cold winter in Georgia, you might want to go further.
Make a checklist to winterize your Atlanta GA home for sale.
Look carefully around the exterior and interior of your home and decide what needs to be done. Write it all down to create a plan of action. This can help inform your decision about who to hire or whether to do it yourself. Also, your list will come in handy when it’s time for the new buyers to open up the house again. With your list in hand, they’ll know all the things that have been turned off and need to be turned back on.
Thinking of DIY winterizing your Atlanta Ga home?
Here are some suggestions from Christian Building Inspectors, Inc of Atlanta to help you get started:
· Turn off the water at the exterior. Make sure that the water supply is turned off at the main supply point.
· Open all faucets and drain all waterlines. Be sure to drain the tpoilets, the water heater (turn off gas or electric supply first) and the expansion tank.
· In unheated or uninsulated areas such as attics, crawl spaces or outside walls, pipes are vulnerable. Use the thickest wrap available to fit such pipes with insulation sleeves or wrapping, available at most hardware stores. Do not leave gaps that expose pipes to cold air.
· Electric heat tape may be a good option, but do use extreme caution to avoid risk of fire. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions carefully.
· Disconnect garden hoses from outside faucets. Drain the faucets and wrap with rags, newspapers or insulation. Cover with plastic and secure with string or wire.
Sound a bit daunting? There is one more option:
The easiest method to winterize your vacant Atlanta area home for sale.
The simplest solution and least risky alternative to winterizing is to leave the heating system running at a minimum setting (with the water turned off of course). Though it might seem like a waste of money or energy at first glance, a minimal heating bill will be less expensive than the cost of potential repairs if everything were to freeze up. Besides that, trying to preview a cold house in winter could be less attractive to buyers than spending time in a vacant but cozy prospective home.
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