Wintertime is a magical time for many. It’s a time for those that love the snow and getting cozy on a wintery evening with some hot chocolate and blankets. But unfortunately, disaster can strike our homes no matter the time of year, as appliances break down and cracks appear. While it’s impossible to predict all of these potential problems, there are things that we can do to ensure the winter months go as smoothly as possible. Here are our top tips for preparing your home during this time of the year.
Clear Your Gutters
This time of the year can bring about a huge increase in precipitation, with heavy rain and snowfall taking up a majority of the weather forecasts. These continuous downpours, combined with the fallen leaves of autumn, can lead to overflowing and sometimes ruptured pipes and gutters. Gutters and downpipes are incredibly important, as they’re designed to direct water away from your home. If they end up becoming blocked with leaves, moss, and general dirt and mess, they can overflow and burst, completely defeating their purpose. At the end of autumn, it’s a good idea to check your gutters and clear them out if needed. It’s also a good idea to replace any broken and damaged pipes and gutters too, to ensure they’re in good working order come winter.
Use Your Heating Sparingly
If you want to, you could keep your heating turned on all winter, but you’re going to have to be prepared for the huge increase to your heating bills. If you’re interested in saving money, it might be wise to reserve your heating for when you truly need it. Of course, this is entirely dependent on how well insulated your home is, and how resilient you are to the cold. To save money, and reduce your impact on the environment, consider alternatives to constant central heating, such as big jumpers, blankets, and even think about setting a time for when your heating comes on. A timer will ensure your heating comes on during the colder hours, and also prevents you from forgetting to turn it off, wasting money and energy.
Have Your Boiler Serviced
Many people think that boiler servicing is only required when they break or begin to show signs of wear and tear. However, an ideal time to get your boiler checked over is just before the winter months roll in. Pre-empting a boiler issue is a great bet to make and it’s better to get someone in to tell you everything is fine with your boiler instead of calling an emergency engineer out during a blizzard. You may find that you have to replace your boiler, and while this can be an expensive time, it’s worth doing before the cold sets in. You can explore the range at Boiler Central to find the right one for your home. There are many great boiler choices out there, so make sure you’re sure about which unit to purchase, based on your lifestyle and needs. It may be worth speaking to a professional before making that decision for a better idea of the benefits and drawbacks of each boiler.
Insulate Your Home
One of the biggest issues when it comes to keeping your home warm is a lack of proper insulation. This doesn’t just count for your loft insulation either, as there are many different parts of your home that you can insulate, ensuring efficiency of your central heating, saving money and energy. Your walls can be insulated as well as your roof, to reduce the transfer of heat to the outside world, keeping your home much warmer. As well as this, windows and doors can be the biggest culprit when it comes to letting the warmth out. Heat can escape through the glass, as well as any crack and draughts through the frames. To combat this, consider replacing your windows, especially if they’re not double-glazed. As well as this, you can even insulate your water pipes. This is called lagging and helps to keep your central heating system from losing heat too quickly. This can save you a bit of money over time as your boiler won’t have to work as hard.
Repair Your Garden Fencing
This suggestion is to do with preparing your garden for cold snaps now. Freezing conditions can damage your fences and gates beyond repair, so making those fixes beforehand and protecting your garden fence from bad weather can save you from having to spend on and entirely new fence in the springtime. Letting damp get into the wood can rot it, so use a wood-filler on any holes and cracks. You’ll want to consider using a wood preservative to help reduce the risk of rot too. As well as protecting the wood parts of your fence, you should ensure that your gate bolts and latches are protected from the elements using a rust-preventing product.
