Just like spring cleaning, you should get your house ready for the winter. Here are a few projects that you will need to get done while the weather is still nice out (or if you are in the North, before the snow falls). These projects will save energy, button up your house and prevent costly problems later on. Also included are a couple of projects that everybody thinks they need to do, but you may not have too!
- Caulk. Caulk is your friend. This is the least expensive way to plug leaks. It also prevents damage to wood and masonry where water has already been let in. Outside, you need to get rid of the loose and/or wet materials and let the area dry out. Then use an exterior grade caulk to fix any outside problems.
- Roof Drainage. You need to make sure that your gutters get a thorough cleaning in the fall. It is especially important to not forget about cleaning out the S-shaped fitting under your gutter. That tends to get missed. However, it can cause problems later on if it’s clogged.
- Moisture Control. You should maintain a 30 to 50 percent relative humidity in your home with a portable central system. If you are not, there are usually two culprits causing this: stagnant water and/or mineral deposits. First, turn off your system and check the sponge pad. If it has calcium deposits, it is time to make a change. If the filter is clogged with deposits, scrub it with a 1-to-4 solution of vinegar and water. To remove stagnant bacteria breeding water, use a 50-50 solution of bleach and water.
- Air quality. Most of our homes are built tightly to save energy. However, our homes can be so closed up that you can smell last night’s dinner for days! Changing air filters will help with odors, dust, mold spores, and pet dander.
- Drain your water lines. In the North, you are guaranteed it will get cold enough to bust a copper pipe or even shatter plastic. In the South, you never know what weird weather will hit. How often do we hear about how towns shut down because they got an inch of snow? With most lawn sprinkler systems, you can just shut off the supply and open the drain valve located in a pit at the low point of the system. You can also blow out the system with compressed air. At all outside faucets, disconnect and drain your garden hoses and then close the inside cut-off valve. Then open the exterior valve to drain the last bit of water.
- Clean out your closets. In the spring and in the fall is the perfect time to go through and recycle what you are no longer wearing. You can also put away those tank tops and shorts and pull out your bamboo socks, wool sweaters, and pashbu scarves.
- Reseal your driveway. Maintenance work like this really only needs to be done every five years or so. However, the fall is a good time to do a quick test to see if your driveway needs resealing. To tell if it is time, pour a bucket of water on the driveway on a sunny day. If a dark circle takes longer to dry than surface splashes, it is time. That means the water soaked in.
- Clean your ducts. This is another job on a lot of fall cleaning lists. However, as long as you are replacing your air filters regularly, this isn’t something you have to do. I’ve often heard stories about how duct cleaning has made things worse in homes instead of better!
Like spring, fall is a time of change: change the light bulbs in your house to LEDs, change the batteries in your smoke detector, change up your wardrobe. It’s also a time to close everything up. These few tips should help you get a good start on your fall cleaning and winterizing!
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We do quite a few things to winterize even though we’re apartment-dwellers – check seals on doors, windows, cover windows in extra bedrooms, change filters, close ducts, drain water lines (we’re lucky enough to have quite a large porch with garden access). It made quite a difference in our utility bill last winter!
Thanks for sharing! Along with cleaning and such I seriously need to add this to my “to do” list!
Unfortunately it is one that is disappearing under the stress of overpopulation and irresponsible farming practices.
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