Preparing your Home for Winter

Preparing your Home for Winter: 5 tips to apply

Before winter sets in, take the time to check that your home is ready to face the first frosts! How do you check that your home is ready for winter? Is your roof ready to withstand snowflakes, wind, rain and frost without a hitch? Is the insulation of your home efficient? Is your heating maintenance up to date? 5 checks will allow you to spend a serene winter, because if prevention is better than cure, you might as well take the lead!

The 5 points to check before winter arrives

As winter approaches, reduce the risk of unforeseen events and unwanted expenses by planning the maintenance of certain equipment in your home now! If the idea has already crossed your mind, have you ever gone up to your attic to check the tightness of the roof? Put these 5 tips into practice and you will be more serene! Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do or plan today! Preparing your home to face winter is essential!

1. Check your Roof

The first thing you can do is look at your roof from the outside, especially if your area has had bad weather this year. You can already see if it seems in good condition, if the tiles are damaged or broken, if moss or lichens have settled.

Take the opportunity to clean or have your gutters cleaned, removing dead leaves that can clog them. The intervention of a roofer for the maintenance of a roof costs on average 450 to 1,000 € (cleaning of tiles, moss removal, repair of damaged areas, gutters, etc.) Don’t forget to check the insulation of the attic if these are not fitted out, in order to check that there are no infiltrations and that the insulation has not been damaged by time or small animals. In case of visible damage, it is necessary to act quickly! Rain and even humidity could wreak havoc on your attic. However, be careful if you go up on the roof, a safety kit and the presence of a second person are essential. ‘

Is the intervention of a professional necessary? Take the lead, fall and the beginning of winter are times when their agenda is busy as homeowners prepare their homes for winter.

2. Maintain your Heating System

Just like the roof, the heating must be maintained and this maintenance is even mandatory. Indeed, it must be checked once a year by a professional, otherwise, in the event of a claim, your insurance will not compensate you! Maintaining your heating device will prevent you from carbon monoxide poisoning, pipes that give way under pressure, a system that does not restart when the temperatures are negative. Because you know, of course, the heating will not let you go when you don’t need it, it will choose the most delicate moment of the year, when everyone will need a heating engineer urgently!

A well-maintained heater is a heater that works properly, guarantees your safety and optimizes performance. In general, do not fall into the trap of cheap electric heaters for reasons of durability and humidity! To heat at a lower cost, you have to maintain your heating system but also insulate your house well for the winter. Do not forget the sweeping of the smoke evacuation duct which is compulsory once a year. Keep the maintenance certificate issued by the professional for at least two years. You will be required to present it in the event of an inspection, claim, or request from your landlord, if you are a tenant.

For the proper functioning and longevity of your appliances, do not neglect the maintenance of your heating system!

3. Improve the Thermal Insulation of your Home

A well-insulated house is a home that limits heating consumption. You know it: the sensitive points are the openings. Windows and doors need to be checked as caulking dries out and cracks over time. If it no longer plays its role, do not hesitate to have your seals changed. You will gain comfort. Installing a door sweep or changing it, you will be able to keep the heat inside your home.

Be careful, however, not to caulk everything! Under no circumstances should the window ventilation grilles be obstructed. This practice, quite common, no longer allows the air to be renewed and can be dangerous for the inhabitants of the house (it can even trigger headaches). Just because it’s cold doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ventilate your home, quite the contrary. Closing a house for a whole winter is not the solution. Good insulation is necessary but accompanied by good ventilation!

Good insulation is essential to enjoy a warm winter

The type of windows also plays an important role in the insulation of a house. Going from single glazing to triple glazing will change your life! Also consider reinforcing the insulation of your attic to save up to 30% on heating bills.

4. Protect your home from incidents

With the return of the cold, your heating will be called upon. You have certainly already installed your smoke detector (DAAF, Autonomous Smoke Alarm Detector)? They should ideally be placed near the bedrooms, on a passageway, and in the living room. Think of the DAAF models equipped with a remote control to deactivate the alarm easily and quickly. There’s nothing worse than a device that goes off during your little one’s nap or a dog howling to death in your apartment while you search for a chair high enough to reach the on/off button!

Compare battery life; a little more expensive to buy, won’t a detector with a battery life of 5 or 7 years be more practical than a detector with a battery to be changed every year? Carbon monoxide detectors can also be invaluable. Placed near a heater, they can cover 60 m². A smoke detector costs between 15 and 30 €.

5. Maintain your Garden before Winter

The garden also deserves your attention before winter. Trimming and pruning work is in full swing and the summer equipment needs to be put away. Purge the garden hoses, clean the barbecue, taking care to store them under cover, you will be all the happier to find them ready to use!

Shrubs and trees should be pruned before winter. If you do not have a trailer to get rid of it, you can call on a professional, he will take care of taking away the green waste and you will be able to benefit from a tax credit. But don’t wait too long, because pruning and pruning season is in full swing and professional diaries are filling up fast.

If you had thought of a paved or gravelled driveway to get out of your house without walking in the grass or the earth or a garden shed to store everything, now is the time!

Preparing your Home for Winter

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