Winterize Your Home
Prepping for Winter
One day summer’s over and the next thing you know it’s snowing. The start of the school year is the natural time for some home maintenance and preparation for winter. Here are some items that are often on my family’s to-do list.
- Winterize your sprinklers (Fall)
Also known as blowing out your sprinklers, this is an important step as any water remaining may lead to costly repairs from freezing temperatures. - Close your pool
If you haven’t done so already, it’s time to close the pool. - Clean your chimney (Annually)
A clean chimney will help you enjoy your fireplace safely by avoiding dangerous chimney fires. - Reverse your ceiling fans
In the winter, ceiling fans should run clockwise to push the air down. In the summer, you should reverse them to pull hot air up. - Get your furnace tuned up (Annually)
A furnace tune up usually includes an inspection, lubrication, pilot assessment and filter replacement. It’s a good idea to ask about the condition of your furnace, so you can plan ahead for a replacement or upgrade. - Check batteries in fire alarms and carbon monoxide detectors
Be sure to always have more than one detector, and don’t rely only on hard wired versions. - Order and stack seasoned wood for your wood burning fireplace
Here’s a great article with some guidelines about how much wood to order and how to store it. My tip: ask the delivery team to stack it – you’ll pay a little extra, but it’s a time saver. - Decide: Shovel yourself or hire a snow plower
Depending on how you answer, plan accordingly. Don’t wait until the day of a huge storm to hire a snow plower! But if you do, you’ll often find recommendations for snow shovelers on our facebook group, @livinginportwashington. - Order salt for your driveway or one of these green alternatives including sand, sugar beet juice, coffee and others that are better for our waterfront, and our pets!
- Set aside a power outage survival kit
Know where your flashlights are, with working batteries, and keep some non-perishable foods on hand in case you need it. Decide if you want to have the comfort of a generator – if so, be sure to check it at the start of the season. And, if you use your generator be sure to drain the gasoline afterwards. - Stock your pantry with some favorite wintertime foods
Around here that includes marshmallows, hot chocolate, and lots of soup!
