Winterizing Your Property
Posted on 07. Nov, 2011 by Jennifer Newton in Real Estate
You wouldn’t head out into a snowstorm without a warm hat, lined gloves and sturdy boots. A property heading into a wintry season needs the same kind of preparation. (For those of you lucky enough to live in warmer climates, now would be a good time to take the dog for a walk.)
Frozen pipes. Drafty rooms. Broken tree limbs. Ice dams. These are just a few of the potential joys winter offers to the unsuspecting property owner — in addition to, of course, regularly shoveling and de-icing sidewalks and driveways.
Here are a few things to put on your list for winterizing a property so you stay curled up on the sofa with a cup of hot cocoa instead of trudging out into the cold to fix something at your rental property.
- Wrap Pipes: Insulate exposed piping. Turn off the water to garden spigots and drain hoses. While you’re at it, wrap your water heater, too.
- Caulk Windows: Sometimes you can see a decent-sized gap in the window framing just by looking. But you can be sure to identify an elusive gap on a cold, windy day by moving your hand along the frame. Believe me, you’ll know where to caulk.
- Change Furnace Filters: If you use traditional filters, replace them monthly. Better yet, invest in a filter that you can clean and reuse. I spent about $20 several years ago on a reusable one. After a simple rinse with water, it emerges looking good as new.
- Program the Thermostat: It’s night time that you install one. They are affordable, readily available and easy to install. When you program it, keep the temperature cooler during the workday or overnight.
- Install Weather Stripping: During my home energy audit last year, a contractor installed weather stripping around two external doors. It’s a simple addition, but it saves us money on our heating bill and makes a big difference in our comfort level.
- Insulate the Attic: A warm roof melts rooftop snow too quickly and the subsequent water, trapped by unmelted snow and ice lower along the roof, has nowhere to drain. Last winter, several friends experienced costly, frustrating ice dams. Water blocked by an ice dam reroutes into a house and causes a whole host of new problems — like damage to ceilings or walls, which invites mold issues down the road.
- Clean Gutters: Remove leaves, seedpods or other debris from gutters. Our gutters have leaf guards on them, but we still give the gutters a good clean-out with a high-pressure nozzle on our hose before freezing temperatures set in. Blockages strain gutters from the extra weight and also can contribute to the formation of ice dams.
Find more winterizing tips here: http://www.ecobroker.com/misc/articleview.aspx?ArticleID=69
What’s an important part of your winterizing plan?
