As the temperatures continue to drop and the days grow shorter, it’s time to think about preparing your property for the upcoming season.
While a blanket of snow may give off a feeling of crisp calmness, the abundance of ice and snow on your roof, your driveway, and your lawn can lead to serious damage on your property. This is especially true for homeowners in the Northeast and the Midwest, where harsher winter climates prevail for months.
Before the snow starts falling, make sure your home is well protected with these winter weather preparations:
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Prune your yard
Timely pruning is essential if you want to avoid accidents involving falling branches. Before winter comes, trim the trees in your yard, making sure to remove dead or dying branches. These are extremely weak, and, if weighed down by snow, they can break off from the trunk and fall onto your car or someone walking by.
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Apply sealcoat to your driveway
Once the snow starts sticking to the ground, one of the toughest home maintenance jobs is clearing your driveway and walkways. Apart from giving your shovel extra work, the snow can also damage your driveway’s integrity. The moisture from snow damages the asphalt, which leads to cracks and potholes in your driveway.
By sealcoating the asphalt, your driveway gets a protective layer that prevents moisture from seeping through and damaging the asphalt.
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Winterize your pipes
Pipes located outside your home and exposed to the weather can crack and burst once winter comes because water expands when it freezes. Damaged pipes can mean no water or heating in your home, not to mention expensive pipe repair costs. So in preparation for the winter, don’t forget to winterize your pipes properly before the temperature drops. Protect your pipes further by covering outdoor faucets and pipes with insulation.
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Clean out your gutters
After fall, your roof and gutters might be housing dead leaves, sticks, and other debris. These are particularly damaging during winter because they can clog the gutters, preventing melting snow from being properly drained and creating ice dams.
This happens when the snow melts in the daytime but stay trapped in the gutters and refreezes during the evening. The trapped water may back up under your roofline and damage your home’s walls, roofs, and gutters. Prevent these expensive
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Seal your doors and windows
If you want to keep cozy during the long, cold months, sealing leaks and gaps is a must. These often unseen imperfections can make it difficult to keep warm air in and cold air out during the winter. They also often occur around doors and windows, as well as walls without insulation.
Keep your house warm and your energy costs low by sealing your doors and windows with caulk and weather stripping, upgrading to double pane windows, and updating your wall and ceiling insulation. These steps increase your home’s energy efficiency, so you can stay cozy without overworking your HVAC in the winter.
With these cold-weather preparations, you can keep both the interior and exterior of your property protected and in great condition this winter.
