Winter is approaching fast, so it is time to begin preparations for the coldest season of the year. Preparing your home for the winter is an excellent way to ensure you and your family can live comfortably over the coming months. The more extreme weather conditions that often arise in the winter can sometimes take their toll on your property and may even cause extensive damage.
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To prevent your home from becoming damaged by the elements this winter, it is helpful to carry out some maintenance tasks before the cold weather arrives. Here are some of the home maintenance tasks you may want to complete this fall:
Roof Inspection
Having your roof inspected yearly is one of the most important tasks to complete ahead of the winter. Your roof is exposed to so much over the colder months, and when extreme weather strikes, your roof is often first in line to be damaged. So, contacting a roofing contractor to come and take a look at your roof and carry out an inspection is essential. It is much better to have any issues or weaknesses in your roof identified now than to wait until a storm hits. Scheduling your inspection now should give you plenty of time to have any works that are needed to be carried out before the worst of the winter weather arrives.
Heating Service
The freezing temperatures of winter can take their toll on your home’s heating system. This is because your heating needs to work harder when the temperature drops to keep your home warm. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that your heating system is working efficiently before the winter arrives. Contacting an engineer and scheduling for your heating system to be serviced is an excellent way to detect any potential problems and get them fixed. This should help guard against your heating breaking down when you need it most.
Pest Control
It’s useful to check around the home for potential entry points used by pests. As the weather gets cooler, your home is a warm hub for many pests to make a home in.
That’s why it’s important to check for holes around the property and hopefully avoid any unwanted creatures from invading your property. Pest control services are something worth investing in to help with identifying these potential problem points.
Check Your Chimney
If you use a fire or wood-burning stove to heat your home, it is crucial to ensure that you carry out some maintenance on it before the winter. If you have not already had your chimney swept this year, it is advisable to do this. An unswept chimney is a fire risk, as the build-up of creosote and debris can ignite. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) reports that the leading cause of home heating fires is failure to clean. So, cleaning and maintaining your fire before winter is a wise idea.
Clean Your Gutters
Cleaning the guttering at your home is a vital maintenance task and is especially important after the fall. Leaves and other debris that are blown around by the wind in the fall can cause your guttering to become blocked. As temperatures drop, this debris build-up can prevent rainwater from flowing through the gutters and downpipes, which can freeze and cause further issues. As clearing your gutters involves working at height, you may want to call in a professional to take care of this task on your behalf.
Kori
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