Winterizing Tips: Get Ready for Winter

Weatherizing your home can help you save money and keep your family out of the cold during the chilly winter months. Every winter it seems that home improvement organizations release another list of ways to winterize your home that you may just ignore, but now more than ever it's something you should consider doing. With the cost of energy and fuel on the rise, it's important to do everything you can to be prepared now before disaster strikes your home and bank account.

Winterizing your home can be time consuming, but it is worth the effort. Start now and you can avoid a slew of weather-related problems. Make sure you have a snow shovel, sand and rock salt handy for outside your house, but also look through your home and see if the interior is winter ready as well.

Winter Check List

The Tulsa World writes that you should have your furnace serviced early so problems don't arise when you need your heater. You should also close off your crawl space so that cold drafts aren't able to penetrate your house, and check the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. By cleaning out leaves and debris from drainage areas around your roof you’ll lower the chances of ice dams or other types of blockage that can cause problems. Disconnect your hose from the outdoor faucet as well to keep the hose from freezing.

Home Depot recommends these tips for preparing your home for the winter in a cost-effective manner:

• Caulk around your windows and doors to eliminate drafts.
• Use expanding foam insulation around spigots and other entry points to your house.
• Close the flue on your fireplace when you're not using it.
• Check the weather stripping under your doors and garage doors to make sure it isn't worn.
• Make sure that your attic insulation meets the R-value for your area.
• Close off heat vents in rooms that aren't used on a daily basis.

Let Us Help You!

To get your home weatherized and winterized, you need the best equipment and products available. Basement Systems has got you covered for all your winter needs. Our IceGuard sump pump discharge anti-freeze system allows water to escape from a sump pump discharge line if the pipe freezes or gets blocked. There are no valves to turn, hoses to attach, or anything for you to do at all. It takes care of the job automatically.

To keep your crawl space sealed off from the earth, try our CleanSpace crawl space encapsulation system and vent covers. Our ThermalDry insulated wall system reflects up to 97 percent of the indoor heat back into your basement to keep your entire home warmer and decrease your energy bill. New basement windows will also save energy by keeping out more outside air.

Whatever method you would like to go about weatherizing and winterizing your home with, we can help you. Give us a call or find us online today and sign up for your free quote!