As the temperatures start to drop, you likely start your winter preparations. You get everything from the garden picked and put up for storage. You pull out your warmer clothes and put away your summer shorts and swimsuits. When you’re getting ready for winter, you mustn’t forget to prep your home. When your home isn’t taken care of properly, it can start to deteriorate quickly. Here are some ways to keep your home in good shape and get it ready for the winter.
Service Your HVAC System
You never want to wait until it’s cold outside to have your heating system serviced. There’s nothing worse than needing to use it, only to find that it isn’t working. While you may have taken care of the system by regularly changing the filters, sometimes things go wrong, especially when you don’t use some of the elements for months at a time. If you schedule regular maintenance for your system, then your tech will find any problems that might be present and fix them long before you need to turn the heat on.
Clean Your Gutters
When the leaves begin to fall, and the colder weather brings in more wind, you’ll likely find that your gutters get full of debris. You never want to leave this debris to sit through the winter. When your gutters are full, then rain and snowmelt can’t drain through them. The water then backs up and spills onto the house’s fascia board, which could cause it to rot. Or, it backs up onto the roof, getting under the roofing material and causing water damage to the roofing system.
If cleaning your gutters is the bane of your existence, then consider installing gutter guards Gresham. The guards will allow the water inside but keep the debris out, which saves you a lot of time in the end.
Order Firewood
Whether you like to use firewood outside in your firepit or to keep your house warm, you want to make sure that you order it ahead of time. Not waiting until the last minute to order the wood will allow you plenty of time to stack and cover it in a good location. When you stack your wood, make sure you stack it on top of something, such as an old pallet or longer pieces of wood, so that the wood doesn’t rot on the bottom. You also want to keep it away from your home or any outbuildings. The wood naturally attracts bugs, and you don’t want those bugs to get inside anything and cause damage.