In the opinion of many Canadians, fall is one of the most beautiful and enjoyable times of the year. The leaves start turning spectacular colours, holidays like Thanksgiving and Halloween bring friends and family together, and there’s a renewed sense of vitality in the air.
However, fall is also one of the most short-lived seasons across the country, and what comes after isn’t always as pretty. That’s why amidst all of the fun and celebrations of fall, it’s important for those of us who own homes to find time to complete a few fall preparations before we abruptly find ourselves in the middle of winter weather.
Even though you might not be expecting snow for a little while, there are some very important things you should be doing now to prepare for the worst of winter. Here are our five most important tips to prepare your home for winter now.
1. Address Any Drafty Areas
As temperatures slowly drop between late summer and the start of winter, you’ll probably notice a few unwelcome cool drafts run through your home sooner or later. While they might not seem obvious at first — or even that big of an issue — by the time winter comes by, you’re definitely going to have a different opinion of them.
That’s why we always recommend you spend some time inspecting all of your windows and doors for leaks and drafts. You can simply use your hands to feel for any cool air that might be entering through small gaps in the caulking, or alternatively, you can use a long, thin strip of paper to check for any strong, cool airflow.
If you do identify any drafts, the good news is that patching up any leaks in your window and door frames is easy. All it takes is a caulking gun and you’re off to the races — just reapply a thin coat of caulking to the frame’s exterior where any gaps are and you’re all good to go!
Make the most of fall while the season’s still around — browse through our suggestions on some Fun Things to Do in Peterborough This Fall here.
2. Empty Out Your Gutters
While fall’s magnificent foliage is certainly a pretty sight to behold, those leaves that inevitably end up dropping from their branches and onto your roof aren’t quite as nice to look at — especially if they end up in your gutters. And, seeing as fall turns to winter so quickly here in Canada, it’s very easy to forget about those leaves in your eavestroughs when they’re promptly covered by snow.
However, forgetting or neglecting to clean out any leaves and debris from your gutters before winter arrives can be devastating for the overall health of your home and can even lead to interior leaks and water damage. If you’ve got gutters clogged with heavy, wet leaves and tree branches, there’s a good chance your eavestroughs will have a lot of trouble draining away any rainwater or melting snow, which means you’ll have a build-up of water just sitting on your roof throughout winter.
Not only can this cause dangerous ice falls that could potentially damage your gutters, but this build-up of water and ice could also easily start leaking in through your home’s roof and cause some serious water damage to the exterior and interior of your home.
You can avoid all of this happening to you by simply getting up on your roof with a sturdy ladder and manually cleaning out your gutters, eavestroughs, and downspouts — or, you can call a professional gutter cleaning company to come and do the dirty work for you. Either way, this is one task you can’t afford to miss out on before winter.
Are you planning on renting out your rural home or cottage this winter? First, make sure you read through our tips on Preparing Your Cottage as a Short-Term Rental here!
3. Shut Off Outdoor Faucets
As we noted above, when temperatures start dropping below freezing, water tends to do that funny thing where it, well, freezes. What’s not so funny, however, is when that happens to the water in your home’s outdoor-facing pipes and faucets.
As you probably already know, when water freezes, it expands. That means if there’s any residual water in your home’s outdoor pipes, hoses, and faucets, it can cause them to break and potentially flood your home and basement quite easily.
To avoid this, what you need to do is to ensure you’ve completely shut off and drained out your home’s exterior pipes and faucets. To do this, you’ll need to locate your outdoor water supply’s main shut-off valve from inside your home, which is usually situated where your exterior pipes exit from your home in your basement.
From there, simply shut the outdoor-exposed valves off completely and then from the outside, drain out any remaining water from the pipes via the faucets and hoses. We’d also recommend you disconnect your hoses and sprinkler systems from these valves and bring them in for the winter to avoid any potential freezing damage.
If you keep running into the same home maintenance issues year after year, that might be a sign you’re due for a more substantial renovation. Find out which renovations will add the most ROI to your home or cottage via the links below:
- 5 Home Renovations That Offer a High Return
- 4 Things You Need to Consider When Completing Cottage Renovations
4. Check Your Furnace Performance
When the outdoors starts to get seriously cool later in the year, most homeowners depend on their furnaces to heat their homes up through the fall and winter. However, while starting up your home’s furnace feels as easy as the flick of a switch, you really shouldn’t leave it until the start of winter to test yours out.
Before you’re going to need to rely on a fully-functioning furnace to get you through the cold weather ahead, it’s crucial you test yours out ahead of time so that you can identify any issues with it before the mercury starts to drop.
The best way to do that is to safely remove the front cover of your furnace and give the interior a good clean. Remove any build-up of dust or grime and carefully replace the filter with a brand new clean one. Check that all of the lights and switches are functioning as normal, and if not (or you’re unsure) then book an at-home service appointment with a qualified HVAC technician.
If necessary, it’s always a smart idea to book an HVAC technician appointment as soon as possible because, as you might imagine, they get quite busy in the late fall and early winter when everyone else realizes their furnaces aren’t working as well as they should.
Plus, if you properly maintain your furnace and domestic heating systems with regular maintenance checks and services, you can also elongate their lifespan. Whereas most furnaces last around 15 years or so, ones that are regularly serviced and maintained can chug away for even longer, which obviously saves their owners a lot of money in having to buy a new one.
5. Clean Up Your Fireplace And Chimney
In addition to your furnace system, you probably also rely on your fireplace to keep you warm throughout the winter too. If you’re lucky enough to own a fireplace and be able to put on a cozy, crackling fire in the winter months, you’ll most likely want to use it quite often.
However, a dirty fireplace and clogged chimney can take all of the romance out of lighting a fire quite quickly. The best thing you can do to avoid that kind of mishap is to call a professional chimney cleaning company. Even if you’ve got some small children at home that are begging to recreate the chimney sweep scenes from Mary Poppins, this is a job best left for the professionals to handle.
The professionals will be able to come in and quickly (and cleanly) check your fireplace’s chimney, vents, and flue damper for and blockages or pests’ nests. They’ll also complete a thorough cleaning of these areas and ensure your flue damper opens and closes safely.
Not only is this optimal for lighting those beautiful crackling fires throughout the winter while preventing smoke build-up in your home, but it’ll also stop carbon monoxide from entering your home through the fireplace as well, which can be deadly.
Has your home’s upkeep and constant maintenance jobs got you thinking about selling? Learn more about how we can help you list your current home for sale, then take a look through our current selection of active featured listings to get you inspired about moving via our links below.
