The winter season brings in a lot of snow and cold weather, and it’s normal for people to prefer staying indoors during these months. If it’s likely that you will be spending most of the winter inside your home, it makes sense to make sure that your house is well-prepared for the cold season.
People usually perform a full house inspection during the fall season because it’s way easier to complete repairs and maintenance before the snowy weather arrives. By making sure that your home is in good condition before the winter season, you’re avoiding the hassle of having to fix damages yourself or seek professional assistance when the temperatures outside are freezing.
To help you check if your house is ready for winter, here are some things to look out for:
Inspect Your Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Systems
Like other home appliances, your heating and air conditioning systems also have a recommended shelf life. Depending on how well you take care of your systems and how often you perform maintenance, they can either last ten to twelve strong years or start losing efficiency after four to six years of heavy usage.
Checking your HVAC system is essential especially before the winter season so that you can get the necessary help from a professional HVAC service if ever you find any damages or causes for concern. You can do simpler HVAC maintenance such as changing the air filter to further prolong your system’s life while also keeping your home cleaner and safer from germs.
Apply the Necessary Coating for Wooden Sections of the House
The cold season brings many harmful elements such as snow, draft, and hail, and all of these can significantly harm wooden sections of your house. The standard type of wood that housebuilders normally use for a house’s deck is usually rot-resistant and pressure-treated, allowing it to survive harsh weather conditions. However, the wood trim that surrounds the front door and other exterior parts of the house is rarely made from the same high-quality material, making it more prone to damage and deterioration if left unprotected.
Wooden trims are expensive to replace, and even if you hire a professional to do the task, there’s a good chance that it won’t look as good as it did before. The best option is to avoid dealing with a damaged trim altogether by keeping it caulked and painted. After every season or whenever there’s a heavy storm, be sure to inspect the trims and reapply caulk and paint if necessary.
Protect Your Home’s Concrete Surfaces
The winter weather isn’t just harmful to wood, it can also damage concrete surfaces. Your driveways, walkways, and patio are probably made of concrete, so it’s a good idea to keep them protected by applying a concrete sealer. The sealer is meant to close off any cracks on the surface to prevent water from getting in and freezing inside, damaging the concrete’s foundation from the inside. Try to check your driveway and walkways at least once a week during the season for cracks, and make sure to patch them up before sealing them off.
Check Your Drainage and Gutters
You also need to pay attention to your drainage and gutters during the cold months. Look around your foundation for patches of soil that are starting to settle. Once the soil settles, water can start to pool at the foundation of the house, causing significant water damage to your home and possibly infiltrating the basement for further harm. Fill in the low spots immediately with soil to make sure that the patches don’t settle together.
Next, you need to check your rain gutter downspouts. The gutter is supposed to help move water away from your home, so if that’s not the case with the water flow, it means there’s something wrong with your gutter. Unless you completely trust yourself to be skilled enough to climb the roof and check on the gutter yourself, it’s much wiser to call professional services to look at your gutter and fix it if necessary.
A Final Word on Preparing Your Home for Winter
Winter can be a fun season especially with the holidays coming around. To make sure that you don’t stress over potential damages caused by the cold weather conditions to your house, it’s recommended to hire a professional service for due inspection and maintenance.
Yorkshire Roofing is one of the best roofing contractors in Northern California, and they can expertly assist you in making sure that your home is well-prepared to handle the winter weather. You won’t have to worry about leaking roofs or damaged gutters with Yorkshire Roofing around, and you can trust that their high-quality service comes at the most competitive prices as well.