7 Ways to Winterize Your Home

It won’t be long now before we break out the wool coats and hot cocoa because winter is right around the corner! But don’t wait for the temperature to drop. Now is the perfect time to prepare your property for cold weather and piles upon piles of snow by “winterizing” your home with these seven easy-to-accomplish tips!

Clean Your Air Filters

You’ll be using your heating system regularly this winter, so it’s not a bad idea to give it the old once over to make sure everything is functioning properly before it’s too late. It’s a good idea to have a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) technician stop by your home to perform an official inspection of your unit, but there are some safety precautions you can do on your own before they arrive.

For example, you can check your furnace's air filters for debris and dust. Disposable filters should be changed every 90 days, more often if you have pets or allergies. If you have permanent filters, they could use a good cleaning. Turn off your unit, take out the filters, lay them on the ground face up, and run the vacuum over them to collect all the built-up grime. For even deeper cleaning, lay the filters in the sink and run warm water over them. Now with your air filters spick and span, you won’t have to worry about your home’s air quality as you’re shut in all cozy this winter.

Protect Your Plumbing

Frozen pipes can cause major damage to your home beyond just the plumbing if they burst. So, if you know of pipes in your home that are candidates for freezing, run water through them every so often once temperatures drop below 32 F.

Another useful trick to prevent freezing is to keep your garage doors closed and open the cabinet doors in your kitchen and bathrooms. That way, warm air can circulate around those chilled-out pipes.

Seal Doors and Windows

If there’s a gap or open slit somewhere in your home’s windows and doors, you’re letting your paid energy fly, literally, right out the door. As the classic “dad-ism” goes, you’re not paying to heat/cool the whole neighborhood. Save on your energy bill now by picking up some weatherproof sealing to fill in the gaps.

Install a Programmable Thermostat

This project should be both easy and affordable, and you’ll save a huge chunk of change over time. And if you’re able to add more than one programmable thermostat to your home, you can control the temperature of each room from anywhere. The power to keep the rooms you use most often nice and toasty and lower the temperature in those you use less will be at your fingertips.

Insulate Your Attic

If you or an expert haven’t already, line your attic’s walls with insulation. As our science teacher taught us many moons ago, warm air rises, so the insulation will keep the air from escaping your home and prevent cold air from leaking in from the outside. Losing your warm air is a huge waste of energy, so insulating your attic is a great investment. Plus, it’s a strong home feature when you decide to sell.

Expert Tip

Insulating your attic is one of the many ways to build your home’s equity.

Optimize Your Ceiling Fans

This one shouldn’t take you very long and it’s easy to do. Locate the directional switch on any of the ceiling fans in your home and make sure they’re set to counterclockwise. Now, their spin will create an updraft and circulate warm air throughout the room.

Don’t Forget About Outside

We’ve talked about the different methods of winterizing the inside of your home, so let’s go over a few of the ways to winterize the outside. Clearing out your gutters, shutting off your sprinklers, draining your outdoor faucets, touching up paint with a sealer, and trimming trees that could blow over in the snowy wind are just a few of the things you can do to get your outdoor property ready for the winter.

And remember to store outdoor furniture and grills indoors, as well. For all the furniture you can’t fit inside, cover it with a tarp and tie it to the ground with elastic cords.

Winterize and Save Money!?

The tips mentioned above will keep you warm this winter, but some of them might even heat up your bank account, too. Keeping the warm air inside by sealing your doors and windows, insulating your attic, and selectively heating sections of your home with a programmable thermostat will make a huge impact on your energy bill’s bottom line. The difference may not be noticeable now, but over the course of a few years, you’ll save more money every winter without turning your entire home into an ice box!