Last-minute Pre-Winter Home Improvements

Last-minute Pre-Winter Home Improvements

The last month of fall is the perfect time to finish up preparing your home for winter. From home insulation to prepare the lawn for winter, there are at least 9 last-minute projects you can complete before the first freeze.

Insulating your home

A quarter of the heat lost in winter perishes through the roof, while more than a third goes out through the walls and windows. The basement isn’t that critical, as only 15% of heat is lost through the floor.

However, modern houses usually have great wall insulation but the attic and the basement are often left with a thin layer of insulation. In order to save energy, you should insulate these two rooms, especially the attic that you can use as an extra room.

Changing the batteries in the smoke detector

The next home improvement is so easy it will be done in ten seconds. Changing the batteries in the smoke detector might not seem like much but this small action could very well save your life.

Fire safety inspectors often stress that the majority of households they inspect fails to complete this simple replacement before winter, creating a potentially dangerous situation. If a smoke detector fails, your house could go up in flames in a matter of minutes!

Selective painting

Homeowners assume that wintertime is unsuitable for major paint jobs since the weather outside is cold. However, low-VOC paints don’t require fresh, outside air but merely air that circulates through the house. That’s why fall weather is ideal for small, restricted repainting of the kitchen cabinets, drywalls, or old tiles. This is definitely a DIY job, as you can get good-quality paint from the local hardware store.

A well-oiled heating system

Making sure energy loss is decreased to a minimum is part of the winter preparation. Namely, in order to save energy, you have to produce energy through a fully operational heating system. Start by inspecting the water levels inside the boiler, making sure they don’t drop below too low.

Also, a filter replacement is in place before every winter season. In fact, filters should be changed every month if you have pets, reside in a windy part of town, or if you’re a heavy smoker. The more stress you apply on the mesh grid, the more often it should be cleaned, just like any other air filter.

The perks of home rendering

Insulation and a regularly maintained heating system are ideal for keeping the house warm but there is another way to achieve this. Namely, home rendering is another way to add a protective layer to your home that has an aesthetical function as well. Cement rendering is durable and long-lasting when applied by pros, so this improvement will save you time if you outsource it.

The exterior water fixture

Whether you have a simple water tap you hook the water hose to or there is a swimming pool in your backyard, all the water fixtures require protection. The cold weather and subzero temperatures can freeze the water inside the pipes, causing them to crack or burst.

The swimming pool, for example, needs to be covered to prevent it from getting filled with leaves. The water tap should be dismantled because it’s impossible to fully drain it. Once the weather becomes warm again, it’s easy to reinstall it in the backyard.

Reversing the ceiling fan

Many homes have made the eco-friendly switch from AC units to ceiling fans. Before winter, you should hit the reverse switch on the fan to make the blades rotate clockwise. This will create an updraft, pushing down from the ceiling heated air. As we know from physics classes, hot air rises, as gases get heated up. The higher the ceiling, the more effective a reversed fan will be.

Filling up the cracks

For home rendering and insulation to perform their best, there shouldn’t be any cracks in door and window frames. If you spot any, whether from the inside or the outside, grab a caulk gun and apply silicone caulk to seal the cracks. We recommend using silicone as the sealant because it’s waterproof and suitable for exterior use.

Preparing the lawn for springtime

Finally, you should prepare the lawn for springtime. This might not seem like an obvious action for the pre-winter period but unless you execute it your lawn will be bumpy and yellow when the snow thaws. Namely, removing logs, branches, and an odd football means there will be no dead spots in spring.

Start by fertilizing the lawn before the first freeze to supply it with plenty of nutrients and minerals to withstand the coming bitter cold. Also, make sure that the grass is cut short. This is done to deprive rodents of a warm winter hideout, as they love to lay nests in tall grass.

Although the big and small home improvements listed above are considered last-minute interventions, they are quite effective. A solid rendering job will last you decades while removing the water tap will become a habit and you’ll do it automatically every fall.

Liam Smith is a young and aspiring blogger and writer. He specialises in workplace relations and human resources.