Winter Home Maintenance Checklist
We know that it is easy to forget about winter home maintenance while completing your last-minute holiday shopping, wrapping presents, finalizing your decorations, preparing your Christmas menu, and baking cookies. It is, however, important to make time for regular maintenance. Although said maintenance may appear to be a daunting task, it is quite helpful in preventing fires, water damage, other safety hazards, and even high utility bills. In addition to stocking up on snow shovels, salt, and roof racks and ensuring snow blowers and generators are in good working condition, we suggest following the below checklist to ensure you cover all significant maintenance items.
- Clean your gutters of any leaves, sticks, and other debris, which could cause water to back up and freeze; you must allow water to drain properly and away from the foundation. Be sure to sweep any snow from the roof and eaves immediately following a significant snowfall.
- Install Ice and Water Shields.
- Inspect windows and doors for drafts, caulk any evident cracks, and replace missing or worn out weather stripping.
- Install storm or thermal window coverings if you do not have energy-efficient windows.
- Hire a professional chimney sweep company to inspect the chimney for cracks, loose bricks, debris, creosote buildups, and charred deposits and to clean the chimney.
- Inspect your attic and garage to ensure your insulation is properly installed.
- Hire a licensed and certified HVAC technician to check and service your furnace or boiler. Confirm all thermostats and control systems are checked and furnace filters are cleaned or replaced.
- Test all smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. Change the batteries as necessary.
- Wrap (with UL-Listed heat tape) and insulate any exposed plumbing in unheated areas, such as in your garage, attic, basement, or crawl space.
- Close all vents to your crawl space and seal any cracks you find.
Disaster Repair Services
Our team is fully equipped to make all repairs to your property following a fire or water loss. We take care of every detail from top to bottom, inside and out including damage estimates, loss reporting, architectural services, permit expediting, and lender notifications.