Winter is coming and soon the weather will bring snow, ice, and freezing temperatures but there’s still time to prepare your home so you can focus on staying warm and comfortable throughout the season. Here are a few things you can do to keep your home safe and insulated this winter.
Heating and Cooling
Remove individual window air conditioning units for the year. Test your heating system in advance and replace any filters. Reverse the direction of your ceiling fans so they spin clockwise, which recirculates warm air from the ceiling back towards the ground. Insulate any exposed pipes, especially in the basement to prevent them from freezing and potentially bursting.
Finish Autumn Projects
Be mindful of what projects need to be done before the cold temps hit. Any sealing or caulking should be done early because cold weather can negatively affect the drying/curing process, potentially reducing the effectiveness of the project. Outdoor painting and staining projects also require warmer temperatures to dry correctly.
Autumn is a great time to mulch and plant trees and shrubs. Adding extra mulch helps insulate garden beds and protects plant roots from freezing during the winter. Late autumn is an ideal time to plant or move trees and established shrubs because the plants are dormant and less susceptible to stress and the ground hasn’t frozen over yet. Pruning trees and shrubs when they are dormant keeps them healthy and removing excess growth allows them to focus more energy into growing during spring.
Disconnect Your Hose
Leaving your outdoor hose connected in the winter can cause the water in the hose to freeze and expand which can damage or break the faucet and can even cause pipes inside your home to burst. When disconnecting the hose, make sure the faucet is tightly closed and drip free. If you have a built-in sprinkler system, make sure to blow out the water in the sprinkler lines before temperatures reach below freezing.
Winterproof Your Yard
Store tools and furniture for the winter so they don’t get damaged by snow and frost or become a potential tripping hazard. Inspect trees for dead branches that could break during heavy snow and potentially cause property damage.
From our Collection
The pros at Family Handyman magazine announce this all-new follow up to the best seller Whole House Repair Guide. Whether you’re a first-time homeowner or an experienced DIYer, you’ll reach for this must-have reference time and again. From fast fixes and easy repairs to weekend projects and money-saving maintenance suggestions, Family Handyman Whole House Repair Guide, Vol 2, has you covered. Featuring 300+ repairs and tips as well as step-by-step directions and hundreds of photos, this home-improvement guide makes an essential repair guide.
Essential Home Skills Handbook: Everything You Need to Know as a New Homeowner — Chris Peterson (2022)
Whether you’re moving from an apartment to your first home or you’re inspired to tackle a particular home project, we’re glad you’re here! If you’ve decided it’s time to fix that dripping faucet or a small gutter leak before it becomes a big problem, let’s get to it.
How Your House Works: A Visual Guide to Understanding and Maintaining Your Home — Charlie Wing (2018)
The revised and updated third edition of How Your House Works is a hands-on guide that gives you the low-down on why your faucet is leaking, your dishwasher is overflowing, or your furnace is on the fritz. This comprehensive book is your reference to virtually everything in your house with richly illustrated explanations of electrical systems, heating and air conditioning, plumbing, major household appliances, foundation, framing, doors, and windows. This must-have book answers most questions homeowners face when repairs are needed or when a new house or addition is in your future.How Your House Works is filled with easy-to-understand illustrations that show how things should be put together and how they function. The book also highlights issues outside the house as well as clock thermostats, ventless gas heaters, moisture and mold, and passive solar heating. Using the illustrations and the authors clear explanations might save you the expense of calling a professional. This invaluable guide: Offers a colorful resource to home electrical systems, HVAC, plumbing, major household appliances, foundation, framing, doors and windows, sustainability, and much more. Includes easy-to-follow information for troubleshooting problems. Contains dozens of new full-color illustrations. Presents new chapters on solar power and smart home technologies. Helps homeowners save money on many common household repairs. Written for homeowners with little or no knowledge of home maintenance or repair, How Your House Works is your illustrated and updated guide to understanding how appliances, electrical, plumbing, heating, air conditioning, and more work!
