How to Get Your House Ready for Winter: Expert Tips for Winterizing Your Home

While you can still feel your fingertips, it's time to winterize your home! These tips will help you get your house ready for winter and save energy during the cold winter months!

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Videos mentioned: How to Insulate Your Roof: Insulating Your Attic to Save Energy and Money    • How to Insulate Your Roof: Insulating Your...  

Hi, I’m John Schultz, owner of JDS Home Inspection Services in Denver, Colorado. There are a few things we can do to prepare the home for winter, and this is called winterizing. If you have a sprinkler system, fall is the time to have it blown out. Water left in the sprinkler system can freeze underground causing damage to the sprinkler heads, the lines, and especially the control valves. Fixing this in the spring can be a costly prospect, so hiring a sprinkler contractor to blast air through the system and rid it of all standing water is very important. All they do is hook up a pressurized air tank to the sprinkler blow out valves and blow out the water. Be sure the sprinkler valve is turned off to cut the water supply to the system. Don’t open this valve again until your ready to start watering in the spring. Insulating the pipes on the sprinkler valve is another a good idea to prevent pipes in the home from freezing. Next, it’s time to look at the gutters. Blocked gutters allow water to overflow; standing water freezes, and heavy blocks of ice put undo stress on the roof structure, which can lead to roof damage and rot to the members. Keeping these guys flowing free all winter is going to save you headaches later on. This is something you may hire a contractor to take care of for you. Vacuuming out the dryer vent before it gets too cold is very important. Dryer lint is the most flammable substance in the house and can flash in an instant. Clearing this away from the exterior vent should be considered part of regular home maintenance, but starting winter with a clean vent is safe and smart. Since the AC won’t be needed anymore it’s a good idea to cover the exterior condenser unit. This is mainly to protect it from damage. Many homeowners also remove the screens from their windows. This isn’t necessary, but it makes the screens last longer by protecting them from winter wind and sun damage in the months you’re not using them anyway. Winterizing the home can be as simple as updating the weather-stripping on the exterior doors and windows. About 11% of your home’s thermal energy escapes this way. A fresh bead of caulk around the window framing does the same thing. Hanging heavy thermal curtains is a cheap alternative to replacing old windows with double paned energy efficient windows, but it makes the home very dark. Window treatments are especially important for windows facing north, as these never see any sunlight and tend to be colder. In Colorado, frozen pipes are a possibility on the interior of the home, especially those close to exterior walls. Frozen pipes break easily when pressurized and are responsible for major flood damage every year. Insulating these pipes with foam rubber padding is simple and fast. Insulating the hot water pipes not only keeps them from freezing but will also keep the water in them hot longer, so your hot water heater doesn’t have to work as hard. Even with insulated pipes it’s a great idea to drip your faucets on cold nights. This may seem like a waste of water but it keeps the water moving so it won’t freeze in the pipes. As far as the heating system is concerned, it’s recommended to have the unit cleaned and serviced in the fall, right before the heating season. This will make sure it doesn’t go out on a cold night. Changing the furnace filter every three months keeps the air clean and the furnace from working too hard. One of the simplest things you can do to winterize your home is to change the direction your ceiling fans are spinning. One of the biggest things you can do to prepare your home for winter is to properly insulate the attic. I’ve covered this in another video, so I would recommend checking that one out after you’re done viewing this one. Thanks for listening and be sure to check out our other videos for helpful tips on other home-related subjects.