10 Ways to Prepare Your Home For The Winter

Preparing for winter can be a stressful time of year. Sometimes it is easy to get lost with all the tasks and chores you want to finish before the first snow fall. Living in Missouri, you never know when that might happen, so it is important to start taking care of these tasks now! We have created an easy-to-follow guide of 10 ways to prepare your home for the winter.

Follow these steps to ensure your home is prepared for the winter!

Unscrew your hoses from all outdoor spigots

A crucial step for preparing your home for the winter is unscrewing your hoses from spigots outdoors. You do not want your pipes to freeze and burst! It is best to drain your hoses and consider bringing all of them indoors – like to a garage, shed, barn, etc.

Turn off outdoor faucets

In order to prevent damage to water lines, you should turn off your outdoor faucets. Doing this helps reduce pressure in your pipes and also helps reduce the risk of ice buildup. Pipes tend to burst at weak points, which is caused from ice building up.

Assess your fireplace

Typically, a wood burning fireplace needs to be properly cleaned once a year, or after 50-80 fires. When preparing your home for the winter, this is a prime task because if your fireplace is not cleaned, it can cause a flue fire. Make sure that the damper properly works and that there is no debris preventing it from opening and closing. Additionally, remember to clean up any remaining ash that is sitting in the fireplace.

Check window seals, door seals, and insulation for leaks

On the occasion that cold air leaks through any window seals, door seals, or insulation, it can cause your furnace to run harder than it usually would and not work as efficiently. Window and door leaks can also cause your home to feel chillier than usual and prevent it from being heated properly.

Install weather strips

Adding weather strips will help seal your home tightly. By adding these, it will prevent cold air from entering the home, as well as preventing heat from escaping through openings. It is important to focus on high traffic areas when preparing your home for the winter. These areas include windows and doors.

Drain your outdoor kitchen drains

Like outdoor faucets, preparing your outdoor kitchen for the winter is crucial. Areas like this have to withstand the harsh weather conditions all winter. If the drains are not drained, the water still in there can freeze and weaken your kitchen pipes. The pipes will eventually burst.

Clean your gutters

After the leaves have fallen, do not forget to clean your gutters. Gutters need to be prepared so that they can stand the weight of heavy snow. Checking to make sure there are no cracks or holes in your gutters is equally important. Gutters must be able to drain properly after the snow melts.

Drain your lawn irrigation system

One of the 10 ways to prepare for winter is to drain the irrigation system. This is so that sprinkler elements do not freeze, expand and crack. Only turning off the irrigation system is not enough to prepare for winter.

Cover patio furniture

To maintain and extend the lifespan of your patio/outdoor furniture, it is important to take steps to protect it from harsh weather conditions. This means removing the cushions (if possible) and bringing them inside to be stored away from water and moisture. In case you need to cover your furniture, you must make sure to cover it when it is completely dry and moisture free so that it does not mold.

Cover your patio furniture to protect it from the harsh winter weather.

Prepare for snow removal

When preparing your home for winter, you should think about how unpredictable the weather is. The last thing that you want is for it to heavily snow and you have no clue where your snow shovel or snow blower are at. It would be equally as frustrating if you found your snow equipment and it did not work.