Simple Winter Weather Preparedness To Fortify Your Home

winter preparedness for your homw

It’s essential to practice winter weather preparedness to make sure you’re not caught off guard when severe cold hits.

From a few hours of snow to a few days of heavy snowstorm, extreme winter weather can create havoc in your life. So, getting in front of a situation is always better than trying to react to adversity. By being prepared ahead of time, you can ensure that you have the supplies you need, not only to survive but to comfortably make it through the winter.

Start now to prepare so that you can fortify your home against the cold. By doing that, not only can you cut down your heating costs, but you can have your home ready to withstand the colder temperatures if the heat goes out.

Winter weather preparedness checklist

 Heating system

Your home can have drafts that work against your heating system by allowing cold air in and letting the warm air escape. You want to make sure that you fix these drafts before the winter weather impacts your home.

Drafts

The best way to fix drafts is by making sure you have good weather stripping.

        • Check each of the outer doors and all the windows of your home.
        • One of the main signs that you need weather stripping or to replace what you do have is to check to see if you feel a draft.

If you feel air around the frame of your doors or around the windows, then air is getting in.

        • You might not be able to feel any air coming in, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not. You can hold a lit candle in front of each side, top and bottom of your window.
        • If the flame flickers, that’s a sign you have a draft. When glass panes on your windows or doors are foggy, that’s also a sign that they’re not properly sealed against the weather.

Insulation

If your heating bills are suddenly higher than they have been before, that can be a sign that your home isn’t weather sealed.

        • You can easily buy and install weather stripping yourself to protect against drafts and help keep your home warm for the winter weather events.
        • Insulate walls
        • Install storm windows and/or cover windows with plastic to keep out cold air.
        • Caulk and weather strip doors.

Fireplace

You want to be able to safely use your fireplace in the winter. But you can’t just light a fire once winter hits without having prepared ahead of time.

        • Before you light the first fire, you need to have your chimney inspected.

Chimney

An inspection can prevent a fire by making sure that there’s no residue in the chimney. Have your chimney checked and cleaner every year. By cleaning out the residue if there is any, you can make sure that your home is safe from this danger and help in your winter preparedness effort..

          • Getting your chimney inspected and cleaned out can also help make sure that any obstructions are cleared away.
              • Birds and even wasps sometimes build nests in chimneys.

Anything that causes a blockage in the chimney can be dangerous.

        • Ahead of the winter weather, make sure that the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are working.
        • If you haven’t replaced your batteries before cold weather hits, then go ahead and do that. After you replace the batteries, perform an alarm test on each of the detectors that you have in your home.

 

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