5 things to check around the house before winter

Cold weather doesn’t create problems so much as it finds the ones already there. A little attention in the fall keeps small issues from becoming burst-pipe, frozen-gutter, sky-high-heating-bill issues in January. Here’s the short list we run through on our own maintenance visits.

1. Clean the gutters

Clogged gutters trap water, water freezes, and ice backs up under your shingles. Clear the leaves and check that downspouts push water away from the foundation, not into it.

2. Seal gaps and drafts

Grab a stick of incense or just your hand on a windy day and check around doors and windows. Fresh caulk and weatherstripping are a few dollars and pay for themselves fast in heating savings.

3. Shut off and drain exterior faucets

Disconnect hoses, shut the interior valve to each outdoor spigot, and drain the line. A frozen hose bib is one of the most common — and most avoidable — winter plumbing failures.

4. Reverse your ceiling fans

Set them to spin clockwise on low. It pushes warm air that’s collected at the ceiling back down into the room, so you lean on the furnace a little less.

5. Test smoke and CO detectors

Heating season is when carbon-monoxide risk goes up. Press the test button, swap batteries, and replace any detector older than about ten years.

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None of these take long on their own — but they’re easy to forget until something goes wrong. If you’d rather hand the whole list off, book a seasonal maintenance visit and we’ll knock it out in one trip.

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Rather hand the whole list off?Book a visit and we'll take it from there.