4 Critical Winter Home Maintenance Activities
Ah, winter. How we’ve missed you here in Canada… said no one ever. Unless you are skier, snowboarder, or some other ambitious snow-type sport, most of your interactions with winter amount to muttering curse words under your breath while shoveling snow off your sidewalk for the umpteenth time.
Even though winter can be a bit of bummer sometimes, there are some ways to make it a little easier on you and your house. Here are four critical winter home maintenance activities:
Winterize your air conditioner
If you have an air conditioner, you probably know you need to winterize it every year. If you have a home-installed system, remove all the dirt and debris by hosing off the equipment and clearing away all the clutter away from the base.
Drain the water from the all hoses and the unit, itself. If your air conditioner has a water shut off valve, turn that off so nothing freezes over the winter months. Don’t swaddle the equipment like you would your first born, though. You’ll end up trapping more moisture and debris than you would otherwise. Just bungee cord a tarp over it and it should be fine.
The almighty furnace filter
This is one of the easiest ways to keep your home happy through every season, and one of the most critical winter home maintenance items that should be on your list. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the easiest things to forget about when you’re maintaining your home. But you only need a little reminder and this is easily remedied.
Change your furnace filter monthly to help keep your furnace functioning at it’s best. There are a lot of filter choices out there. Fiberglass filters remove between 10% and 40% of the debris floating around in your air. Alternatively, electrostatic filters trap about 88% of the debris, and a HEPA-approved filter catches 99.7% of particles.
Follow the directions and suggested schedule for replacement/cleaning them and you’ll be in great shape.
Save your yard equipment
This is important for keeping things like your lawn mower, weed whacker, barbeque and all your lawn furniture in good shape year after year. For those things that have a gas engine, drain the oil before you store them. This prevents the oil from getting sludgy and making your lawn mower work harder than it has too.
Wipe down your lawn furniture and store it somewhere outside of the elements. If you don’t have room in your garage, buy covers and secure them so things don’t fly away in the wind. With a barbeque, go through the extra steps of following the manufacturer’s directions to cleaning all of the parts thoroughly.
Rein in your hot water temperature
When they are installed, most hot water tanks are generally set at 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees
Celsius). Most people find they don’t need their water set at “scald you in a second”. Turn down the temperature on your tank to 120 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. You can save between 6% and 10% on your heating bills -- and avoid second-degree burns in the process. Win and win.
Follow these simple winter home maintenance tips and you should weather winter like a superstar. Don’t forget to buy home insurance to help you through any winter-related mayhem that might come up.
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