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Snow, ice, rain and wind are all part of the gifts handed out by mother nature, it is important to take a few simple steps to make your home Winter ready and capable of weathering whatever is thrown at it. In this article we will take a look at some suggestions to help make your home winter ready..
Stock up for emergencies
Make sure you have all the things you need for the winter. Things like gritting salt, a snow shovel, external tap covers are all great ideas. The last thing you want to do is for the world to freeze over and you have no way of getting off the driveway. If you are getting gritting salt, we’d always recommend ensuring you get the white “cleaner” salt as the sand based salt will make a real mess inside your home. If you do need to use the salt, make sure that you take off your shoes as you enter the house. No-one needs a trail of salt throughout their home. On top of this, though, what would you do in the event of a power cut? Stock up on batteries, torches, gas stoves and charging battery packs to make sure that you can see and cook basic meals in the event of a power cut. Talking about meals, make sure that you have plenty of drinking water and non-perishable food at home as well as plenty of blankets and easily accessible cold weather clothing.
Clean your gutters
During the autumn, leaves will have been falling from trees and one common place they end up is in your gutters. Before Winter really gets a grip on us and before the rain starts to come with a vengeance, clear your gutters and check them to make sure all the joints are secure. The last thing you need are overflowing or leaking gutters. These can cause serious damp inside your home. While you’re up on your ladder, check the state of the roof and have any loose, damaged or missing tiles secured.
Get lagging
If you have any external taps, turn off the water supply to them and open the tap fully to drain any water. Leave the tap open over the winter (don’t forget to close it before turning the water on again) and cover it with a tap cover to insulate it. Make sure you lag any pipework that is potentially going to be exposed to the cold. The last thing you need is a burst pipe caused by water in taps or pipes freezing. Make sure to check and insulate your water heater tank, especially if it is up in the loft.
Last minute gardening
Spend some time pruning trees and bushes back and clear up any garden debris from borders and lawns. There are two main reasons for doing this. The first is to remove as many extra leaves as you can. You don’t want to clear your gutters just to have them fill up again. The second is to reduce places where snow can accumulate and potentially lead to branches breaking which could cause damage to your property.
Put things away
You’ll most likely have had all your summer furniture out to enjoy the sun over the summer, but it needs to be put away, not just to protect it from the elements, but also to protect your property from flying furniture as it gets windy. It’s not unheard of for garden umbrellas and even trampolines to take flying lessons in the bad weather.
Put your lights on
We all know that the days are much shorter in the winter and it is dark for longer. Make sure your outside lights are working and the PIR sensor is set right. Life will be so much easier if you can see where you are going. There is another reason, though, which is more sinister. A burglar is less likely to approach a well-lit property so having outside lights which come on as someone approaches is a great deterrent.
Insurance
Even with the best preparation in the world, things can go wrong so make sure you are properly insured and keep the insurance documents to hand, just in case the worst happens.
Maintenance
The final few bits to sort are your windows and doors and the boiler. Check all the seals on your windows and doors and replace the seals where needed to keep drafts out. Have your boiler serviced if you haven’t already. Winter is hard work on boilers and there are many breakdowns. You don’t want to have to wait for a boiler engineer to come out in what is perhaps peak breakdown season.
Winter is a hard season and can play havoc on our homes. With some simple preparation work, you can mitigate all but the worst winters and keep yourself safe, warm and snug at home while it blows a freezing gale outside.
