5 Tips For Protecting Your Home During Cold Weather
I know it's currently Summer, but the cold weather sure comes around quickly each year! Before we know it, we'll all be wearing jumpers and popping our heating on again!
It's all well and good keeping ourselves and our families warm, pop on a jumper, grab a hot drink, turn the heating up a bit or snuggling under a blanket with a good movie! But what about our home? Our homes need to be protected, particularly during the colder months so they function properly, and ensuring no inconvenient problems arise, and no unsightly, costly repairs either!
I wanted to share with you today, a few tips to help you protect your home during those chillier months, and avoid any unnecessary problems.
Seal Cracks & Block Draughts
Draught proofing your home is really important, and trust me you'll notice a huge difference if you go around your home and ensure all draughts are blocked up. You want your home to be a warm, cosy place to be, but when you can feel a cold draught coming through, it feels anything but cosy!
Stop that draught coming through your home by blocking draughts from windows by using weatherstripping tape and using draught excluders under doors. Chimney are also a huge culprit for letting in all the cold air, so if you have an unused chimney, perhaps think about blocking it up? Or if your fireplace is in use, perhaps a chimney balloon would be a good alternative? Although it will need to be removed when you want to use the fire!
I'd also suggest caulking any cracks or holes on the outside of your home, to prevent cold air seeping through the little gaps!
Fix Up Outdoor Areas
Before you head inside, and hide away for the Winter, it's important to fix anything outside that may cause problems during the cold weather.
Clearing your gutters is really important, so remove all leaves, sticks and other debris to ensure that melting snow or ice can flow freely away from your home. If the gutters do happen to become blocked during the winter, it may cause ice damming, which means the icy water will seep into your home instead - causing huge problems.
As well as cleaning your gutters, you might want to tidy up your plants and trees a little bit. Snow or heavy winds could cause large plants and trees to become brittle and break, so give them a bit of a tidy up, chop down any broken branches to prevent any dangerous incidents occurring.
Aside from tidying up, if you have a path, steps or a handrail leading to your home, I'd definitely recommend checking they are in tip top condition. Fill in any cracks in the path, or apply some grit, and fix and broken steps or handrails. Imagine how dangerous they could be if covered with thick ice or snow!
Prevent Frozen Pipes
To prevent pipes from freezing, and possibly bursting, ensure you insulate any outside pipes - Heatline.com offer many services and products, which includes water pipe freeze protection services.
You'll also want to insulate any water tanks, particularly in colder places like the attic. Also, if you are planning on being away for a while, perhaps consider draining you water system and temporarily turning off your water supply to prevent pipes from freezing while you are away.
Add More Insulation
You do not want too much warm air to escape from your home, and this can be prevented through proper insulation. If you have little or no insulation on your attic, almost a quarter of heat will be lost through the roof! Perhaps think about insulating your garage or cellar as they are places that will not get any heat otherwise.
Check Your Smoke Alarms & Carbon Monoxide Detectors
It's hugely important to check and test all alarms and detectors throughout the year, but even more so during the winter months! There is, for obvious reasons a much higher risk of house fires during the winter, but also the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning due to burning fuels, or preventable boiler leaks. So ensure all detectors and alarms are functionally correctly by testing them.
I'm Sarah! I am a Wife & a Mama to 3 little monkeys, a boy and 2 girls. Motherhood, Craft & Home Blogger!
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