Winter is right around the corner, which means now is the best possible time to get your home ready for the colder weather. If you haven’t already started prepping, here are a few tips you can use to get your home ready for the winter season so you rest assured that you and your family stay warm and cozy all season long.
1. Invest in Thick Blackout Curtains
Thick blackout curtains can be one of your best lines of defense when it comes to keeping your home warm during the winter months. Between 25% and 30% of all heating use is due to heat loss through windows. By adding thick blackout curtains to your home, you can help prevent cold drafts and keep more heating in, as opposed to letting it literally go out the window. You can typically find blackout curtains in-store or online. There are about 1.8 billion websites operating at the same time worldwide so you can feel confident knowing you’ll be able to find blackout curtains in your style.
2. Have Your Heating Serviced
Before winter sets in, it’s always a good idea to have your heating serviced to make sure that it won’t fail when you need it most. Standard Xchange, formerly known as ITT Standard heat exchangers, is one company that offers heat exchangers to help heat homes in the event that their prior heating system or exchanger needs to be replaced. Heat exchangers work by exchanging stale air from inside your home and heating the incoming fresh air. This helps to lower humidity while providing warmer, fresher air all winter long. However, if your current heating system to exchanger hasn’t been serviced this year, it’s worth having a professional give it a once over just to ensure that it’s not going to go out when you need it most.
3. Inspect and Repair Your Roof
There are many ways that your roof can become damaged throughout the year, and this is especially important if your roof is aging and hasn’t been inspected in recent years. Although some damage will be evident from the ground, not everything will be visible to the untrained eye. For this reason, it is important to have a roofing professional take a look at your roof at least once every year to ensure that there is no damage that could potentially leak to heat loss, water damage, or pest infestation. Make sure to have any missing or broken shingles repaired or replaced. You may also want to have areas around vents and chimneys resealed to ensure there are no gaps or cracks. If there is any debris on your roof, this should also be removed to help prevent damage.
4. Have Your Chimney Cleaned
If you have a fireplace in your home, this can be a great way to both heat your home and create a cozy atmosphere for friends and family. However, you’ll want to have a chimney sweep come in and both clean and inspect your chimney to ensure that it is in good shape. Doing this will not only help prevent water damage or pest infiltration, but it can help prevent potentially devastating fires and carbon monoxide from leaking into your home. If your fireplace and chimney haven’t been cleaned or inspected this year and you’re planning on using them this winter, don’t take the risk and call in a professional chimney sweep before lighting your first fire.
As winter creeps closer, now is the time to start preparing your home for the cold. Keep these four tips in mind so that you can get your home as ready as possible before the temperatures dip too low for comfort.
