How to Prepare Your Home for Fall and Winter

As temperatures drop, it’s time to pull out your warm jackets and boots—and turn up the heat indoors. But is your home prepared for the colder months?

Use this fall and winter home maintenance checklist to ensure your home stays safe, cozy, and efficient all season long

Get Your House Ready for Fall and Winter

• Get Your Heating System Serviced – Before cranking up the heat, hire a technician to inspect your furnace and heat pump. This ensures your heating system works at the recommended efficiency and that carbon monoxide leaks are prevented.
• Reverse Ceiling Fans – Since heat rises, turning your ceiling fans in reverse could help heat up your rooms. This might allow you to turn down your thermostat by one or two degrees and save energy.
• Clean the Gutters – Doing this task regularly prevents water from leaking into your home, causing damage. When temperatures drop below freezing point, having clean gutters also helps prevent ice dams. Ensure that gutters and downspouts aren’t worn or damaged.
• Divert Water Away from Your Home’s Foundation – While you’re checking the downspouts, make sure they divert water at least three to four feet away from the foundation. If they don’t, add extensions to downspouts.
• Prevent Ice Dams – Ice dams on your roof are a sign that your attic is not properly insulated. Your attic must be cool to prevent snow on the roof from melting, which causes ice dams. Make sure your attic has enough ventilation and there aren’t air leaks that heat up your attic.
• Inspect Your Roof – Carefully look for missing, loose, or damaged shingles. Better do it now before it starts snowing to avoid leaks and water damage when the snow thaws.
• Seal Windows and Doors – Moisture and cold air can get inside your walls through gaps around windows, door frames, and where pipes enter your house. Caulk up the gaps that are bigger than the width of a nickel.
• Turn off Exterior Faucets and Sprinklers – The water in outdoor pipes can freeze and cause the pipes to burst as the ice in them expands. To prevent that, disconnect garden hoses and drain all the water in exterior pipes. Alternatively, replace exterior faucets with freeze-proof faucets.

You might also like: 10 Home Fire Safety Tips for Fall

• Drain Your Sprinkler System – Buried irrigation lines can also freeze, leading to burst pipes and damage to sprinkler heads. To best drain the sprinkler system, hire an irrigation technician to blow out the system’s pipes with compressed air.
• Mulch Leaves – Instead of raking the leaves on your lawn, mulch them. The resulting compost provides nourishment to your lawn. Also, when stowing your mower for the winter, add a stabilizer to the fuel tank to protect the engine if the tank still contains fuel.
• Inspect Your Fireplace – To ensure your fireplace is in good repair throughout the cold season, ensure the damper opens and closes properly. Look up into the flue to make sure it’s free of obstructions. Also, check your firebox for damaged or missing bricks or mortar, or hire a chimney sweep to do the job.

Are you ready for the winter holidays? Check out our tips on fire safety for kids.

If You Need Property Damage Restoration Services this Fall or Winter, We are Here for You!

During the colder months, stay mindful of heating safety, too! If you need professional smoke remediation or fire damage repair this fall or winter, contact PuroClean Emergency Services. Call us in Dayton at 937-401-9700 or in Cincinnati at 513-897-8990.