Winterizing your home now, rather than waiting for Winter to actually arrive, is the smart and responsible way to protect it. It’s easy to forget about cold weather when it’s in the middle of the Summer, but with Winter right around the corner, the time is right to start getting your home ready for it. The last thing you want to do is keep putting things off until all of a sudden Winter is right around the corner and you haven’t done anything to prepare your home for it yet.
Being a homeowner offers many benefits, but it comes with its fair share of problems and responsibilities as well. If you don’t take those responsibilities seriously, then you could end up regretting it when you have to pay expensive repair bills.
The best way to ensure that you properly winterize your house is to be proactive. You want to look at potential problems ahead of time, and head them off before they become issues. This may cost you a little money up front, but it will almost always end up paying off in the long run.
Service Your Heater
When the temperatures begin to drop one part of your home that you are going to rely on is your heater. If you are anything like most people, you probably haven’t even thought about your heater since Winter ended and you shut it down when temperatures warmed up.
That means that you probably didn’t have it serviced at the end of Winter, and you may have neglected it before that as well. If that’s the case, then you really do need to make it a point to call a professional heating company to come out, service, repair, and inspect your heater.
The good news is that if you are smart and contact a heating repair company before Winter, then you can usually save yourself some money. Much like air conditioning repair companies charge more during the Summer, heating repair companies do the same during the Winter. So, if you schedule an appointment now, you can usually get quicker service that costs less.
The last thing you want to have happen is for it to be the middle of Winter and have your heater go out. Not only is this going to cost you more money, you’ll probably also have to wait longer for service. That means sitting in a frigid house, probably wishing the entire time that you had been smart and had your heater serviced before Winter arrived.
On top of that, it’s always going to cost more money to fix your heater than it is to maintain it. In many cases a skilled heater repairman will be able to spot small problems before they become big ones, saving you money in the process.
Make Sure Your Doors and Windows Aren’t Letting Cold Air in and Hot Air Out
When you are winterizing your home one thing you should be on the lookout for is anything you can do to save yourself some money. One of your biggest expenses during the Winter months is going to be your heater. Whether you have an electric one or a gas one, your bill is going to jump significantly as you run your heater to keep your home warm and comfortable.
If you want a lower heating bill then obviously running your heater less is in your best interest. One way to do this is by reducing the amount of work your heater has to do, which will require it to run less. A lot of people don’t realize just how much of an impact improperly sealed doors and windows can have on how often your heater has to work.
When you have doors and windows that let hot air out and cold air in, then your heater is going to have to run much more frequently in order to compensate. That means a higher utility bill for you, which is never a good thing.
The good news is that weather stripping is very inexpensive, and it’s also quite easy to install. For under $100 you can probably get enough weather stripping for your entire home and should be able to install all of it in an afternoon. Another wise investment to consider is a plastic insulating film you can apply to your windows. The glass windows on your house are terrible when it comes to conserving heat and keeping out cold so a simple insulating film can go a long way to making them much more energy efficient.
Trim your trees
Trees are great for the environment, they provide cool shade during the Summer, and they can make the landscaping of your home look much nicer. Do you know what else they can do? Well, if they are weighed down by a lot of snow they can collapse and damage anything that they land on.
So, what happens if they land on your home? Well, there’s a good chance they will damage it. Then you are going to end up paying for expensive repairs. Of course, your homeowner’s insurance will probably pay for most of the repairs, but then you will likely have a deductible to meet, and of course can then look forward to your rates going up.
Or, you can avoid any of these problems and make sure that your trees are properly trimmed by hiring a professional to come out and do it for you. You definitely want to hire a professional for any type of work you have done around your home, especially for something as potentially dangerous as tree trimming. On the bright side having a well-maintained yard free of obstructions will help you to save money when the time comes to hire gutter cleaners.
Inspect Your Chimney
If you are lucky enough to have a fireplace then you probably already know what a luxury it can be during the cold Winter months. A fireplace can warm your house up, and it’s a great safety net to have on hand in the event that there is a utility problem or heater problem that causes your heater to fail. Plus, there’s something quite magical about curling up on the couch in front of a fire with someone that you love.
But, while a fireplace is a tremendous luxury to have, it can also be a danger. Specifically, the soot that builds up in a chimney can be a fire hazard. If a chimney is not cleaned out on a regular basis then it’s a fire hazard, and that is a major problem.
Then, of course, there’s also the potential danger of carbon monoxide getting into your home in the event that something blocks your chimney. Carbon monoxide is toxic, so this is obviously something you want to avoid. The bottom line is that hiring a professional chimney sweep company to come to your home on occasion is well worth it.
Have Your Gutters Cleaned and Inspected
When you are winterizing your home making sure that you make your gutters a priority is vitally important. When you look at the other items on this list it can be easy to minimize the importance of your rain gutters. It can be easy, but it’s also a major mistake. Just like any other part of your home, your rain gutters need regular care and maintenance if you want them to be able to do their job.
What is their job exactly? Their job is to take all of that uncontrolled rainwater that hits your roof during a storm and direct it to where it won’t damage your home. Without rain gutters, your home would suffer water damage, which would lead to toxic black mold. You could even end up with damage to the foundation of your home, which could threaten its structural integrity. Obviously, this is not a good thing.
So, this is why homes, where there is moderate to heavy rainfall, have rain gutters. But, if you neglect those rain gutters then not only will they not do their job, they will fail sooner which will necessitate having to repair or replace them. Neither of these are good options because both can be quite expensive.
If you want to avoid having to deal with either replacing or repairing your gutters there is an easy solution, don’t neglect them. You need to have them inspected on a regular basis by a professional gutter cleaning company.
If you don’t, then you really have no way of knowing if there is something wrong that could end up causing a serious problem down the road. If you neglect your gutters debris will build up in them, this will lead to all kinds of major problems. It’s not a matter of if you have a problem, it’s a matter of when you will have a problem.
What kinds of problems will you have to look forward to if you don’t have your gutters cleaned and inspected by a professional on a regular basis? Well, for one thing, they could collapse. Or, you could end up having an ice dam form, which will not only cause your gutters to collapse but also likely damage whatever the dam lands on when it falls.
You could end up with water seeping into your home leading to toxic black mold. You could also end up with water seeping into your home’s foundation, freezing during cold weather, and then cracking your foundation in half.
The point here isn’t to scare you, but if this does scare you then at least that will get you to take action. Rain gutters do a wonderful job of protecting your home from rainwater, but they can only do this if they are taking care of. If you think that you have gutter guards so you don’t have to worry about having your gutters cleaned and inspected, then sadly you would be mistaken. Gutter guards are ineffective for a number of reasons, so if you already have them on your home then the best thing you can do is to have them removed.
Why It’s Important to Hire a Professional and How Do You Choose the Right One?
After realizing that hiring gutter cleaners to clean and inspect your rain gutters really is the smart way to go, the next step in the process is finding the right company to do the job for you. That company should be Clean Pro Gutter Cleaning™. Clean Pro Gutter Cleaning is an established gutter cleaning company with an outstanding reputation for both their quality of work, as well as their customer service. You can go online to their site and schedule your appointment, that’s really all there is to it.
With so many other gutter cleaners out there why should you choose Clean Pro Gutter Cleaning™? Aside from the fact that they enjoy a tremendous reputation, they are also licensed, bonded, and insured. Anytime you hire anyone to do any kind of work to your home they should always be licensed, bonded, and insured.
This protects you financially in the event that there is an accident. They also make training a priority so that they can guarantee you that the technician they send to your home will do a great job for you. Finally, at Clean Pro Gutter Cleaners they make it a priority to inspect your gutters while they are cleaning them, which will help you to catch small problems before they become big ones.
Winterizing Your Home Takes Time but It’s Well Worth It
You can probably name a hundred things you would rather do than spend your free time winterizing your home. But, you probably couldn’t name a hundred things that are more important. If you want to maintain the value of your home and keep it in good condition, then you have to invest time and energy into maintaining it.
A big part of that is preparing it for the cold Winter months ahead. While you may not like dealing with it now, it’s always better to be proactive and protect your home rather than reactive when you end up having to spend money on repairs that could likely have been avoided.
