Believe it or not, winter is here! You may be mentally ready, but your home may not be. After all, who would rather spend their downtime thinking about how to prepare their house for the coming season? This blog aims to guide you through some maintenance tasks that you might want to do before winter sets in, in order to negate the need to have some serious home repair performed once temperatures thaw.
Ice, snow and cold weather can do real damage to your home. Be well-prepared and don’t procrastinate those tasks. Ensure your home is cozy with those handy tips before winter chills are here.
Have Your Roofs Checked
A leaky roof is definitely not a pleasant surprise after the first snow or hails hits. Having your roof inspected by roofing professionals can help you spot any potential issues present in your roofs, and hence, reduce the risk of any unpleasant surprises.
Some roofing fixes can be done on your own including repairing shingles or sealing the joints between the flashing and chimney using caulk. However, hiring roof inspectors will ensure all blistering, broken or missing shingles are taken care of, while also making sure that the roof isn’t decaying underneath by checking for masses of moss and lichen. Finally, roofing workers will also check for damaged rubber boots that surround vent pipes.
Clean Your Gutters, Drainage Downspouts
Once autumn is over and all tree leaves have fallen, clean your gutters by removing twigs and leaves. This will in turn protect the foundation of your home and prevent ice dams. Hire a professional to ensure that gutter hangers are tightened and that all, if any, damaged material is replaced in order to avoid costly repairs afterwards.
Always check and keep an eye on your basement for water damage stains and on your attic for mildew. Damp is the number one signal that your drainage system is not functioning properly. Once you start noticing it, call a professional right away.
Bleed Your Radiators
If you have radiators at home, make sure you bleed them before the season starts. This is a very easy task to do but goes a long way in ensuring that your radiators are running efficiently at full capacity.
All you need to do is to let all the air out of the radiator by turning it on at the maximum temperature for a few minutes then turning it off.
Once the radiator is off, open the bleed valve and let the excess air and water out.
This is relevantly an easy task to do, but what you might need professional help with is checking that the heater boiler is at the right air pressure level.
Get Snow and Ice Removed
We all enjoy the sight of snowfall and the sound of rain drops while staying warm indoors. If this is not cozy, we don’t know what is! But a very few of us (if any!) enjoy the process of ice and snow removal.
Apart from the safety hazards linked to not having the snow removed, leaving the snow and ice laying around on your deck, walkway, driveway and roof for too long increases the risk of leakage.
By hiring year-long snow removal and plowing professionals, you will definitely be taking major steps in maintaining your property against snowfall. You can enjoy the snowfall while watching it from your fireplace without having to think of the negative effect it has on your property.
Request Heating Professionals
This might sound like a given, but a lot of families underestimate the importance of hiring a local heating specialist before the start of every winter season.
Whether you have geothermal, radiant or hydronic heating in place, a professional must come in to ensure that all gas connections are intact, and that all boilers are well repaired. Moreover, if you have a fireplace and a furnace, you ought to have those professionally checked as well.
This is just a basic checklist of the things you need to do before the winter season starts, though the list might even run longer depending on where you are located and how low the temperature gets.
To some this might sound overwhelming. That is when the WeServe App proves its convenience. All you need to do is check the app for any kind of service you might need for home maintenance, and you will find hundreds of workers who specialize in the required service closest to you. Request help with a few taps and you will be set!
