Is your home ready for winter? Winter can be really tough, especially for your home. But there are key things that you can do in order to protect and prepare your house for the rough winter weather. Here are 7 key tasks that you’ll want to do before the first big snowfall (and before it gets too cold)!
Going through these 7 essential winter home preparation tasks will help winter to go so much smoother for you and your family.
Cut and prepare your lawn for winter
Making sure that you do one final cut on your lawn, and that you’ve added grass seed to keep it from becoming unhealthy during the winter will give you a nice thick green lawn when Spring and Summer rolls around.
Trim branches from trees and bushes back
You will want to use pruning shears to trim back any branches (especially dead ones) that are too close to the walls and roof of your house or the power lines near your home. You don’t want trees or branches damaging your home or the power lines near your house during the winter. Being without power or having damage to the walls and roof of your home when it’s cold is not fun!
Inspect and repair the exterior walls of your house
Check for cracks, holes and any other damage to mortar, siding, soffits, and fascias. Also check windows and window sills for cracks and any other damage. All of these will get even worse if you fail to fix them before winter. So either repair them yourself or get a professional to fix them as soon as possible.
Wash (and possibly paint) exterior walls
After you’ve inspected and repaired the walls of your home, next it would be good to wash and possibly paint them too. Depending on what your exterior walls are made of, repainting can help to protect any wood on your house. If your home is covered in siding, then cleaning the dirt off is not only great for your siding, but it will also make it look much better.
Clean out your gutters of any debris
After all of your trees have lost their leaves (and before it starts to snow), it’s a good time to clear all debris from your gutters. If you fail to clean them out, then you’ll most likely end up with water standing in them. And that water freezing will cause expansion. And this can end up damaging everything from your lawn, to your garden beds, and all the way down to your home’s foundation. So don’t skip this inexpensive task, or you could end up having to deal with a much more serious problem.
You can use a gutter cleaning tool to make it easier. Or, if you’re able to invest in them, gutter guards would be a wise choice. That way you don’t have to get up on a ladder to clean them out so often.
Ensure your sidewalks and driveway are safe to walk on
It gets hard to navigate icy walkways after winter hits. But having to also worry about a porch railing falling off or tripping in a large pot hole makes matters even worse. There are a lot of great aids to help easily (and cheaply) repair sidewalks, like this one. Whatever repairs are needed, if you take care of them now, then you’ll save yourself much bigger repairs with much more damage down the road.
Inspect and repair your roof
If you live in an area where it snows a lot, then it’s especially crucial to make sure that your roof if in tip-top-shape before winter hits. The last thing you’ll want this winter is for your roof to leak, or worse to collapse! So be sure to check that your home’s roof is free of any damage in order to prevent even more damage from happening throughout the winter months.
Inspect the roof of your house for loose or damaged shingles, or gaps in flashing, and mortar that needs repaired by the chimney. Get any damage repaired as soon as you’re able to (a wet patch seal like this one really comes in handy). And if you’re not sure how to do it yourself, then don’t hesitate to call up a professional who can get the job done for you, before you start getting tons of snow.
Winter is Coming!
Sorry, I had to say it. 🙂
But seriously, all of these essential tasks are so important for you to do for before winter starts. Failing to take care of these crucial winter home preparation tasks could lead to some hefty costs for even larger repairs down the road. And you could even be putting you and your family at risk for getting hurt.
So, take the time to make your home safe and ready to take on the worst of the winter to come by giving it a little TLC now.
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