Winterize Your Home

The cold winter season brings destructive snow, ice and freezing temperatures to homeowners in the Snow Belt states each year and proper preparation is essential. There are numerous tasks that you, the homeowner, can do to protect and prepare the exterior of your home before winter sets in.

To keep the cost of heating your home down this winter, it is essential to keep it well insulted and sealed. Heat can be lost through cracks, damaged siding, drafty doors and leaky windows. To ensure your home stays energy efficient throughout the winter, do a thorough inspection of the exterior, and use calking and weather stripping to close up any holes or gaps that might let cold air in and warm air out.

Now is also a great time to clean up and store your outdoor lawn tools and equipment, patio furniture and garden hoses. Along with emptying your garden hoses of left over water, you'll also need to shut off the water valves of exterior faucets, so the pipes don't freeze. Additional tasks can include cleaning the gutters and cutting tree branches away from power lines, the roof and driveway to reduce downed trees due to heavy snow and ice.

Once you've completed these tasks, it's time to buy or maintain snow removal equipment for the upcoming winter months. A high quality snow plow can make snow removal an easy do-it-yourself project all winter long. There are several different snow plow options on the market today. If you want a user-friendly option, consider the SnowSport HD Plow by ACI (Agri-Cover, Inc.), a North Dakota aftermarket accessory company. Owners of this innovative plow agree that it's one of the easiest plows they have used and is a safe and affordable option for do-it-yourself snow removal.

"Five years ago I purchased a SnowSport Utility Plow. It is my pleasure to recommend it to any farmer, rancher or country dweller. I live 15 miles from town on a township road. I not only clean my driveway with ease, but I choose to do the entire yard in and around all the out buildings. The township road I live on is not often maintained in the winter, so I easily clean one half mile of that road in a matter of a few minutes. I still mount a blower on a tractor each winter. The last five years I have unhooked the blower each spring, unused. I much prefer to use the SnowSport plow. Without a doubt it has been one of the best investments for snow removal I have made," says Keath B. of rural Wahpeton, N.D.

The plow is manufactured from corrosion-resistant, hardened, anodized aluminum and is equipped with a thick rubber cutting edge designed to aggressively plow hard, compacted snow, yet remains vehicle and terrain-friendly. The plow installs in approximately 30 minutes on your truck or SUV and the blade can be removed in seconds. There are no electric or hydraulic components to wear out or malfunction, making it a user-friendly option for any homeowner. The manufacturer offers a three year warranty on the SnowSport HD Plow. For more information, call (888) 850-5144 or visit www.mysnowsport.com.