Blog: How to Winterize your Home

Winter is Coming

Is your house ready for all the winter entails? There’s nothing quite like the despair you feel when you’re woken up in the middle of a snow storm to find ice dams are draining down your bedroom walls. Fortunately, this and many other home disasters are avoidable with the right preparations.

There area two main angles of attack to consider when winterizing your home;

• Prepping the infrastructure
• Buying the right equipment

Read on for some helpful homeowner tips on how to winterize your home, and set yourself up for a cozy season.

Infrastructure; Keeping Cold Out and Heat In

Doors and Windows

The most basic step to winterizing your home is stopping drafts. Door and window drafts are an endless source of problems, from allowing warmth to escape to causing ice inside your home. Weather strip tape is often the quickest fix for gaps. Just measure, cut, and stick. You’ll have a snug seal all winter long!

An additional challenge with windows is the glass itself. Even with weather stripping in place, window panes themselves are a major source of heat loss. One easy fix is window shrink film. This is a clear, thin sheet of plastic that will hold tight to your window frame when heat is applied. A hairdryer is all you need to get the job done.

But what if you’d rather not have all your windows look like they’ve been Saran wrapped? Thermal curtains can be a stylish and cozy alternative. It’s important to note, however, that the trade off is a higher cost. A pair of thermal curtains will run you anywhere from $30 to $150, depending on size. On the other hand, a shrink film kit averages less than $3 a window.

Fireplaces

A roaring fire is the classic focal point of winter socializing. As such, ensuring your fireplace is operating correctly before the snow hits is vital. Check if the chimney is drawing smoke up and out, and not letting it collect indoors. If the smoke isn’t being drawn up, try opening a window in your fireplace room. The pressure change can assist in correcting the airflow. If this doesn’t do the job, you can try using a hairdryer or heat gun to pre-heat the chimney, which can also help direct air flow.

Furnaces

Another fundamental step to winterizing is tuning up your furnace. You should already be getting regular inspections. Experts recommend once a year, and those inspections will help you get ahead of any major problems. However, there are some things you can do on your own to help guarantee it runs smoothly. Prior to winter’s arrival, you can:

Completing these basic steps before turning your heat on for the first time will help ensure it keeps firing, from the first frost to the first day of spring.

Insulation

Something that can save you a lot of money, if you are proactive about it, is ensuring your roof is well insulated. Besides being an expensive source of heat loss, if the underside of your roof gets too warm the snow outside can melt and run towards the eaves. This melt will re-freeze at the colder eaves, and create an ice dam. Subsequent melt water is then trapped, and it’s only point of exit is into your home.

Check your insulation depth in your attic. Ideally, there should be 12 to 14 inches of insulation. If you need to add more, blown-in insulation will fill nooks and crannies better than batting. If you’d like to do it yourself, you can save quite a bit of money. The DIY route is usually about one third the cost of hiring a professional. Make sure you do your research before you get started, though. Blowing insulation can be a pretty messy process, so you definitely don’t want to do it more than once.

Equipment; What to Have Handy

Much of the equipment you should have for winter house maintenance is pretty straightforward. Sidewalk salt, a sturdy shovel or snowblower, and something to safely remove icicles are all necessities. There are some additional pieces of equipment you’ll want to have on hand, however, that might not immediately come to mind. Stock up on these gadgets and tools to make your transition in to winter seamless.

Draining Boot Tray

Boots are meant to keep your feet warm and dry, but can sometimes do the opposite. Wet boots left on carpet or hard floors can create massive puddles of cold water. One distracted step and your cozy evening is ruined, not to mention the caustic damage the dissolved sidewalk salt can do.

Buy or make a draining boot tray to keep your floors clean and dry. A fairly simple DIY option is to take a plastic or metal tray, such as a cookie tray, and cover it with small, rounded rocks. The space between the rocks will allow your boots to drain into the tray, drying out nicely by the time you need to brave the outdoors once more.

Roof Rake

These fabulous devices look like big squeegees on very long handles. They’re designed to allow a homeowner to remove ice and snow from the roof while standing safely on the ground. The biggest benefit to owning and using a roof rake is the same benefit of improving one’s insulation; no snow on the roof means no opportunity for ice dams.

Carbon Monoxide Alarm

Finally, an important safety addition when winterizing is installing a carbon monoxide alarm in your home. With the house sealed up to prevent heat escaping, and with heating devices running 24/7, the risk is higher for a build up of this lethal gas. There are a wide range of device options including combination smoke/carbon monoxide detectors, hardwired, and plug-in, so there’s an option out there to fit your needs.

The Bottom Line

Every season comes with its own unique set of home maintenance requirements. However, with winter’s destructive potential, it pays extra dividends to be prepared. It only takes a small amount of planning ahead, and a little bit of your own labor, to ensure you’ve taken every precaution against unpleasant surprises. Best of luck as you get to work, and stay warm!

©Laura E. Holt 2019