How To Winterize Your Home

Learning how to winterize your home is a valuable skill that you can use each year. Winterizing is the process of preparing something for winter; when you winterize your home, you can make it through the winter without getting sick or feeling the wrath the cold at its worst. Don’t wait until the winter hits—winterize your home before the snow starts to fall. 

Do you worry about your energy bill’s price hiking up? There’s no need to overthink it, as there are ways to make sure that your energy bill stays lows while your home stays warm.

Here are a few handy tips to help you weatherproof your home for the winter. 

Home Winterization Checklist

Create a checklist of items you need or steps you can take to make the harsh winter easier on your family. Here is a basic checklist that can help you prepare your home so that you will survive the frost: 

• Buy a snow shovel as soon as you can. Keep extra water and canned food in your pantry in the event of a blizzard. 
• Clean your gutters and downspouts in mid-fall and routinely check them during winter. 
• Inspect your windows for gaps. Apply weather-stripping around problem draft areas.
• Give your heating system a test run so that you’re positive it will work when you need it most. 
• Prepare your deck with a fresh coat of sealer to protect it from winter debris. 

Best Ways to Keep Your Home Warm

Developing a winter energy-saving strategy is key to keeping your house cozy without spending too much extra money on your energy bills. Keep your home habitable during the winter by adjusting your ceiling fans, cleaning your vents and radiators, and cleaning all of your blankets. 

Winterize your ceiling fans by making them run on winter mode. It might sound counterintuitive to run your fans during the winter, but running a winterized fan can help your house retain warmth. During the winter, you should run your ceiling fans with the intent of distributing the warm air around each room. Run your ceiling fans at a slow pace with the air blowing upwards; this will push the warm air near the ceiling, which will then trickle down the walls and make its rounds throughout your room without it cooling. Do this by flipping the directional switch on your ceiling fan. 

To clean your vents and radiators, make sure that they have access to open air in your home. Warm air needs to flow freely throughout your home, so ensure that chairs, tables, and couches are not obstructing your vents or radiators. For maximized efficiency, spend some time dusting off your vents and radiators. 

Believe it or not, keeping blankets at-hand is an easy way to help reduce your energy bills in the winter. Wash all of your blankets before temperatures drop and distribute them throughout your home. Place at least two blankets in each room, so when you get the shivers, you can reach over for a blanket instead of turning on the heater. 

Winterization is an effective process to keep you safe and comfortable during the winter, but sometimes, unpreventable accidents strike your home. If your home experiences structural damage during the winter, contact Hudson Douglas Public Adjusters. At Hudson Douglas, we represent you—not your insurance company. We can help you get your claim quickly resolved.