But, before you settle in, there is a little work to do to ensure your home is ready for the colder months ahead. We’ll run you through a few simple checklist items to make sure your home will stay warm, safe, and efficient through fall and winter. Starting inside…
The first thing to do is make sure your home is sealed up tight. Checking is easy. Go around your house, stopping at every exterior window and door, and holding a lighter around the edges. If the flame moves, that tells you that air is getting in around the seal. Don’t have a lighter? A thin strip of paper is a fine substitute.
Fixing a drafty window or door shouldn’t be too challenging, replacing the weather stripping or door sweeps should do the trick.
Now that you know your house isn’t leaking conditioned air, it’s a good time to make sure you’ll have heat when you need it. If you have central heat or another electric system, you can probably just flip a switch and wait to hear, feel, and sometimes smell everything working. If your home relies on radiator heat, you’ll need to make sure there are no leaks at the valve connections, joints, or pipework. A steady drip from the radiator can lead to water damage.
Many homes still rely on fireplaces and woodstoves for some or all of their heat. If this describes your home, now is a good time to consider the chimney. Make sure the chimney cap is in good condition and check for any bird nests or other blockages. You should also use a flashlight to look up through the chimney and make sure the flue is opening and closing properly. Depending on the state of things, it may be worth it to hire a chimney sweep to come to clean everything out.
Talk of controlled fires in the home leads right into another important check – your clean air monitors and smoke detectors. Even if you don’t rely on a fireplace or woodstove – but especially if you do – you should take a lap around the house and make sure all smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are in good working order with fresh batteries.
Remember that snow blower tucked in the back of your garage? The one you haven’t turned on since February. It’s easy to forget about it until you need it. Which is exactly when it is most frustrating to find it not working. Now is the time to make sure it will still turn over. You will most definitely thank yourself for doing so later.
Now we take it outside. It’s fall, so things are about to start…falling. Buildup in gutters tends to go unnoticed, but all that extra weight can cause major – sometimes expensive – problems. Now is the perfect time to pull out the ladder and give them a look and/or a clean. If you have gutter guards to keep clogging minimal, you should still go up to make sure everything is clear and in good repair.
Your grass may be brown and covered in snow soon, but the fall is when beautiful spring and summer lawns are made. Fertilizing before your area’s first freeze helps your yard develop strong roots which will pay dividends when it counts. The fall also serves as a great opportunity to seed – or overseed – some of the worn or bare spots in your yard.
Speaking of your lawn, keeping it hydrated looks a little different as the weather cools. If you live in a place that doesn’t get too cold, you can keep your sprinklers running through the fall and winter, though you should reduce how often they run. In places that freeze through most or all of the winter, however, it is best to shut off and purge outside water entirely. Freezing water can lead to cracked pipes and other expensive repairs. You should also empty and bring in any garden hoses. Leaving them out through winter could ruin them for spring.
It’s time to close and cover your pool, but don’t drain it. Keeping the water helps to protect the liner from shrinking, drying out, and cracking. Also, if you drain the water now you will have to refill it when you re-open, meaning a hefty water bill.
The final thing to do before you head back inside is to take care of all outdoor furniture and other equipment. You can just throw a cover over some furniture. Other items need to be brought into a garage or shed. If you have a trampoline, the pad that covers the springs needs the same treatment. You can get away with just covering it, but if you have space to bring it in, that is best.
At this point, your home is prepped and ready for the cold weather. You can settle in and start looking forward to the fast-approaching holiday season. If you’ve been considering any big projects, the down months of fall and winter can be the perfect planning season. A cash-out refinance is a great option to fund any project or project you have in mind. And, if you do it with CapCenter, you can get the same money with fewer fees!