If you live in a state with harsh winters like Ohio, you’ll want to do all you can to ensure you can live comfortably and safely once the cold and snow arrive. If you’re looking for advice on how to prepare your home for the winter elements, look no further than this comprehensive list of winter maintenance tips.
In most places in the U.S., winter brings with it freezing temperatures, and in Northern states like Ohio, abundant snowfall, as well. Preparing for this harsh season could help protect your home during the winter and avoid various situations, ranging from minor annoyances like increased utility bills to more serious issues like burst pipes. To save yourself major hassles and potentially costly repairs, it’s a good idea to have a winter weather checklist to make sure your home is prepared for winter.
Don’t wait until the beginning of winter to start winterizing your home — start in the fall, preferably earlier in the season than later. From inspecting your pipes and heating to cleaning your gutters and storing your tools, you’ll want to get started on your winter home maintenance checklist sooner rather than later. You’ll catch any concerns while the weather is still mild enough to comfortably do so.
Create your winter weather checklist with these tips:
Heating systems last an average of 12 to 15 years, but some can fail after 10 years, whereas others are still kicking after 20. This wide variation is largely due to how well they’re maintained.
Before winter arrives, take the time to have your HVAC system inspected by a professional. Have the technicians inspect your system and ensure your heat will work when you need it. If your HVAC system has a problem, it’s better to find out in the fall than on a cold winter day.
Ice dams — which many Ohio residents are all too familiar with — happen after snow melts and freezes near the edge of the roof. This only happens when part of the roof warms above 32 degrees Fahrenheit while the edge of your roof stays below freezing. This situation often results when an attic is warm.
In the majority of houses, heat makes its way through ceilings into attics, warming the roofs directly above it. Even though the air outside is below freezing, the snow over the warm section of the roof will melt. When this melted snow comes in contact with the colder edge of the roof, which isn’t warmed by the attic, it freezes there. This creates a rim of ice, which tends to grow and trap water behind it, and a full-fledged ice dam results.
As removing an ice dam can be quite a hassle, it’s best to prevent them from forming, which you can do simply by keeping your roof and attic cold. Cold roofs accumulate thick layers of snow. If the roof is warmer, however, the snow will start to melt, which will be evident by the clear spots on the roof and perhaps even icicles hanging off the eaves.
To make sure your roof stays cold, remember to do these three things:
As the temperatures go down, your pipes may freeze. Because the water in pipes can expand as they freeze and contract as it thaws, this can result in the pipes bursting — and burst pipes mean flooding, water damage and pricey repairs. Burst pipes are definitely something you want to prevent, not repair.
Luckily, frozen pipes can be avoided by following some basic winter plumbing tips. While some of these should be left to a professional, others are simple DIY tasks:
When preparing your home for winter, you should also make sure all seasonal tools, including garden shovels, pruning shears and rakes, are stored in a garage or other place that is away from the elements. Here are some tips for storing your tools properly:
Once the trees have finished shedding their leaves, you should clean your gutters. When leaves and other debris accumulate in gutters, they overflow, and when this happens, water will start running down the side of your home, causing your exterior to deteriorate prematurely. It can also cause your foundation to deteriorate and water to get into your basement, which leads all sorts of issues.
If you feel at all uneasy about the idea of cleaning your gutters, leave the task to a professional. If you are comfortable with this task, here are some tips on how to clean your gutters:
Before the leaves fall, take a good look at your bushes and trees to see if they’re still healthy — especially ones close enough to fall on your house or a neighbor’s. In many cases, a dying tree isn’t obvious, and you may not notice it at all, especially if there are a lot of trees around your home. A professional can help identify any diseased or dying trees on your property.
If there are any branches up against your house, trim these away, because once winter comes, these branches may be coated in ice, which could do considerably more damage to your home. Again, a professional can assist you if you feel uncomfortable taking on this task yourself.
Drafts will make your home much less comfortable on those chilly winter nights, as they let heat escape through cracks in your home. Drafts account for a significant percentage of energy bills — from 10%-20% — especially in the winter. There are ways to locate these drafts around your home:
If you discover a draft in your home, there are also ways to fix them:
Following a blizzard or heavy snowfall, there’s a chance you could be snowed in for an extended period of time. This could be made worse if accompanied by a power outage, which would leave you with just a few hours to use the contents in your fridge safely. If you fill your pantry with shelf-stable and filling foods, you won’t have to worry about going hungry while waiting for the snow to be cleared.
Consider stocking up on the following essentials along with non-perishable foods:
According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), heating is the second highest cause of house fires in the U.S. For this reason, ensure all your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are functioning properly. We also recommend that you have smoke alarms in all rooms of your home, even the hallways. You should also check the batteries in all the alarms once every month.
To cross some items off your Ohio plumbing winter checklist and ensure your plumbing is in working order, get in touch with one of our plumbers at Crawford Mechanical Services, Inc. We provide a wide variety of residential, commercial, industrial and remodel services, and our expert work has earned us the reputation as Columbus, OH’s top plumbing service. You can contact us by filling out our form or by calling 614-665-8594.