Winter weatherproofing is vital for ensuring you get through the season without incident. You are more likely to experience something bad if you don’t take a proactive approach to ensuring your home is warm and safe when the weather takes a nasty turn for the worse. Some places are prone to severe storms, cold, and even flooding. Yet with some relatively simple changes such as preventing draughts and cold and personal heating, you can reduce the effects of winter.
Replace Failing External Features
Over the years, a home can take a battering. Storms, heavy rain, and even heat can cause severe damage. And while it can be costly to keep up with some things, it will cost more if you neglect your home, and not just money. Replacing or fixing external features of a home helps prevent some of the worst a storm can throw at you. For instance, it can help to call a siding replacement contractor to fix any issues in your home that can let in water and increase the cold.
Prevent Draughts and Cold
Further to cold, it is very simple to vastly reduce the amount of cold that comes into your home. Turning the heat up isn’t efficient, and it is more sustainable to prevent cold from coming in. Draughts are commonly caused by small gaps that let in cold air. In fact, it only takes ⅛ of an inch gap to let in as much cold as an open window. Draught proofing is easy with door sweeps, weather stripping for doors, and caulking around windows with gaps between the frame and wall.
Winter Weatherproofing with New Windows
Draughts aren’t the only culprit when it comes to letting the cold into your home. One of the worst is poor windows. Old windows that are coming loose or with single-glazing can allow up to 15% of a room’s home to escape. While new windows are an expense, the value they offer is priceless. First, they will prevent draughts and keep warm air inside. But they will also have a significant impact on your heating bills, making them much lower and saving money long term.
Give the Gutters a Good Clean
Cleaning the gutters is one of those jobs that no one wants to do. But it is absolutely necessary to reduce the bad effects of the weather on your home. Clean gutters prevent blockages from causing leaks into your home and will also prevent rainwater from freezing. In winter, the rain can freeze and expand. This causes a blockage that will get bigger as it gets colder. If you cannot clean the gutters yourself, hire a local service to avoid the hazards of winter cleaning.
Keep Cold Out with Drapery
One of the simplest home warmth hacks for winter is to use drapery to your advantage. The main purpose of drapery is to provide privacy and keep the sun out. Of course, you can also use the sun in the morning to help heat your home. But this fades rather quickly in winter. Heavy drapery can keep the colder air from coming through into the room and prevent warm air from escaping. Be sure to place them behind any radiators to avoid wasting the heat from them.
Protect Your Home Against Water
Rain is much more likely in winter in some places. While winter storms can be a joy to watch, they can cause immense damage to your home. Therefore, it is essential that you protect your home against rain. It requires a proactive approach, but these steps will definitely help:
- Pay special attention to your roofing to prevent the worst from happening.
- Position your home’s downspouts to redirect water runoff away from the house.
- Add storm doors if your area is prone to frequent and violent downpours.
- Direct water away from your home via landscaping features like swales and berms.
- Apply waterproofing barriers to exterior walls and check internal walls for cracks.
- Install a sump pump if your home is in an area where flooding is likely.
- Prevent electrical outages by elevating appliances in case of flooding.
It cannot be overstated how vital the roofing is. Check the roofing periodically and call a professional if you see any signs of damage. It also helps to ensure water is redirected away from your home as much as possible and consider electricity if you are prone to flooding.
Check Your Walls for Gaps and Cracks
Doorways and windows are the main culprits for draughts. However, they aren’t the only ones. The walls of your home can also be a cause of cold air in the home. Even a hairline crack can let air and water in, and this can also contribute to mold. Fortunately, remedying this couldn’t be easier. Polycell Plaster (Polyfilla) from home improvement and DIY stores is all you need. Go around your property and fill in any gaps you spot. Waterproof and fast drying is recommended.
Insulate Your Water Tank
Most homes rely on the water tank to heat the home and heat the water. Water is dispersed through pipes and into the radiators for heating. But as the weather gets colder, the furnace has to work much harder, which reduces efficiency, wastes energy, and costs more money. An easy way to beat the winter at its own game is to simply wrap up your water tank and pipes. Simple foam insulation helps prevent freezing pipes and reduces how much they have to work.
Embrace Smart Tech for Winter Weatherproofing
Smart technology systems are much cheaper than they used to be, are more widely available, and are easier to use. As such, there are over 300 million smart homes in the world today. Smart tech can be used with almost anything these days and includes heating systems. Smart heating systems can monitor the home and turn on the heat as needed, be switched on remotely as and when you need it, and monitor how much your home’s heating is costing you each day.
Invest in Personal Heating
Some of the things mentioned above can be expensive. But there is an ethos that has become popular over the past couple of years as we endured an energy crisis. “Heat the human, not the home”, can help you save a lot of money. You may need the heat on when working from home, for example. But if you aren’t home most of the day, you can stay warm with personal heating. These include electric blankets, hand warmers, and cozy slippers to help keep you warm.
Bring Garden Furniture Inside for Winter
There are always the chances of storms in winter, some of which can be rather violent. If this is the case where you live, then make sure your home is safe against the storms. Storm windows and storm doors can help. But your garden furniture poses a great risk. If the wind is strong enough, these can be picked up and thrown at your home like missiles. Bring anything like his inside, and if they cannot be brought inside, then ensure you cover them and tie them down.
Summary
Making some repairs or replacements to external features will help with winter weatherproofing your home. Of course, the chances of heavy rain and flooding, or even melted snow runoff, are much higher in winter. Protecting your home against water is vital with fixed roofing, water redirection, and elevating electrical appliances in case of flooding. It will also help to protect your home against winter wind by bringing any garden items inside to prevent potential missiles.
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