Your home is one of your most important assets, and you want your home to be a comfortable setting for your friends and family to enjoy throughout the year.

You need to take care of your home’s exterior and interior throughout the year, and now is the time to winterize your home for the frigid Billings winter that will soon be here. Now is the time to prep your home for winter before the temperature drops and we have our first big snowstorm.

How To Prepare Your Home For Winter

It can sound overwhelming to prepare your home for winter, but winterizing your home can be completed in a few hours with our checklist for winterizing your home. We will take a look at some of the best ways to protect your home during winter, including:

  1. Check your home’s heating system
  2. Clean your gutters
  3. Clean your chimney and fireplace
  4. Add weatherstripping around doors and windows
  5. Insulate water pipes around your home

Taking the time to do some quick home maintenance before the seasons change is a great way to ensure that your house stays in good shape for many years to come.

Let’s take a look at the most important things that you can do today to prepare your home for winter to ensure you and your family are safe and happy throughout the winter months.

1. Check Your Home’s Heating System

prepare home for winter check heating system

Image Source: https://www.thespruce.com/anatomy-of-the-home-furnace-humidifier-1824773

The average heating and cooling system will last about twelve to fifteen years, and if you are like most people you may not remember the last time you had your HVAC system checked.

Most furnaces last a long time without any problems if they are properly maintained, and as winter approaches you should have a professional HVAC technician come out to ensure that your system is working properly and be sure to keep an eye out for the signs that your furnace is not working properly.

2. Check Your Gutters

winterize home winter clean gutters

Image Source: https://www.angieslist.com/articles/4-ways-clogged-gutters-can-damage-home.htm

Your gutters are an essential part of your home’s health since they direct water from your roof to the ground in a safe and efficient manner. Many times your gutters can become clogged by leaves that fall from the trees around your home.

The temperature changes throughout the winter, and during warmer months snow on your roof will begin to melt. If your gutters are clogged, water from melting snow will accumulate on your roof and this can result in additional weight on your home’s structure along with accumulating ice.

Both of these issues can result in expensive roof problems, and can even lead to injuries if the ice falls on someone as they pass by the build-up.

Taking the time to clean the gutters before winter sets in is very important and one way that you should be preparing your home for winter.

3. Clean Your Chimney & Fire Place

prepare home for winter clean fireplace and chimney

Image Source: https://www.realtor.com/advice/home-improvement/how-to-clean-a-chimney/

Many homes are warmed by a traditional fireplace. Before it gets too cold out, you should take the time to clean out your fireplace and properly maintain your chimney.

Now is the time to hire someone to inspect and clean out your fireplace and chimney as soot will accumulate and this can reduce airflow and even increase fire hazards if not regularly cleaned.

Hire a quality chimney sweep company to clean out the chimney and the fireplace. The chimney sweep company will also inspect the fireplace and surrounding area to make sure that it is safe and ready to use during those long winter months.

If there are any issues, you definitely want to know about them before you light that first fire for the winter.

4. Add Weather Stripping Around Windows & Doors

Another way to make sure that your home is ready for winter is to check all of the doors and windows of your home for drafts. Your home can lose a lot of heat throughout the winter by leaking warm air out of cracks around doors and windows.

Adding weather stripping around windows and doors is a quick and inexpensive way to keep your home warm throughout the winter. You can buy weather stripping from your local home improvement store, and once applied the weatherstripping will keep cold air out and warm air in your home.

It is amazing how much heat can be lost through those tiny spaces around your windows and your doors.

5. Insulate Hot-Water Pipes

Your home has a network of water pipes that you need to get ready for winter. Water expands and contracts in different temperatures, and if your hot-water pipes are not prepared for winter then they could burst.

A burst water pipe can cause a ton of damage to the home. It can flood the entire house if you are not careful.

One of the ways to ensure that your pipes are safe from the elements is to make sure that they are well insulated. You can purchase some foam protectors to place around your pipes for your faucets and shower pipes.

The best thing to do is to make sure that you turn the water off to the outside faucets. Once the water is turned off, you will want to turn the faucet on to make sure that the majority of the water comes out. Leave the water off until you are ready to use the faucet next spring.

Use The Simple Winterization Tips Today!

Getting your home ready for winter is an important step to protect your investment and your family’s comfort during the winter months.

Taking care of your home is really important. After all, your home is likely your largest investment. You want to make sure that it stays in the best shape throughout the years.

Winter can be hard on a home, which is why it is important to take the steps above in order to make sure that your home is ready for those winter months. It is also a good idea to make sure that you have your shovels and snow blowers ready to be used before you are hit with that first big snowstorm.