5 Ways to Prepare Your Home for Winter: A Professional Guide

The Midwest Winter is Heading Our Way - Is Your Home Prepared?

According to climate.gov, the USA sustained at least $92.9 billion in disaster costs in 2023. This historic year was hit with 28 weather and climate disasters, including flooding, droughts, wildfires, and tornados. Cities in the midwest, including the Missouri and Kansas areas aren't exempt from these disasters. Areas like Leawood, Lee's Summit, Liberty, Lenexa, and Blue Springs are all hit with the summer droughts, fall and spring rains, and freeze/thaw cycle throughout the winter.  People in these regions purchase high-value insurance and spend huge amounts to cover out-of-insurance damages, etc.

The cold months not only demand expensive repairs but also put the home’s comfort, safety, and efficiency to the test. To avoid additional expenses in the winter, it's important to winterize the home early.  As a foundation repair company in Kansas City, PierMagic is constantly showing up at homes that have had issues with water leakage, cracks, leaning walls, windows that won't close, etc for YEARS. The key to keeping repairs under control is to reach out to the pros at the first signs of issues. Here, we elaborate on 5 ways to prepare home for the winter months.   

Benefits of Early Home Preparation for the Winter

The following are the core advantages that a homeowner receives by preparing the home early for the cold months.

• The early preparation restricts penetration of cold air, offering a cozy and comfortable in-house environment for the occupants.
• It also reduces the need for excessive heating, which saves the energy cost.
• Advanced winterization of the home prevents pipe bursts, roof damage, basement leaks, chimney damage, and more.
• Early winterization of the home reduces the chance of accident occurrence.
• Finally, the preparation makes the house energy-efficient, triggering a lower carbon footprint that ensures environmental sustainability.
• RELATED: A healthy home begins from the ground up... begin with an EZ Breathe Ventilation System.

Best 5 Ways to Make Ready Your Home for the Winter

Unless the homeowner is an expert in the winterization works, it is more than essential to get assistance from professionals like PierMagic (foundation repair), or similar reputed service providers available in your region. However, we point out 5 best ways to prepare your home for the cold season.

1. Insulating and Sealing

Insulating and sealing the openings is the most important and tier-1 task in the home winterization process. Effective and proper insulation and sealing ensure hot air remains inside while preventing the indoor environment from penetrating cold air.

• In this preparation criteria, the first thing to do is to insulate the areas like the attic, walls, floors, and basement. The most popular and effective insulating items are fiberglass batts, blown-in cellulose, spray foam, and so on.
• Next, to seal the door and windows, materials including adhesive-backed foam tape, V-strip, etc., can be used.
• The cracks and gaps in the doors, windows, and other openings need to be sealed using caulking seals. We suggest taking an expert’s help if caulking sealing is needed.   
  

     2. Maintenance of the Heating System

An efficient and high-performing heating system is another essential component for enjoying cozy and comfortable indoors during winter months. In the winterizing process, the first task is for the house owner to replace the filter as per the manufacturer’s guidelines. 

The second task is to ensure the vents are clear from any obstruction. Next, the homeowner must check for any leak or damage in the ductwork and resolve that. Finally, the homeowner should do a thermostat check. In this case, using an upgraded and programmable thermostat offers optimized energy use. 

We must inform you that for checking the extraction of carbon monoxide is needed and for this work DIY approach is not advised as this is a deadly gas. So, every homeowner must take professional annual heating system maintenance.

     3. Preventing Pipe Burst

If the homeowner is not prepared to deal with the winter months, the bursting of frozen pipes is a common occurrence. The frozen pipe burst not only demands expensive repair but also makes the house not functional for living. The following approaches should be incorporated to restrict frozen pipe bursts.

1. First, it is necessary to identify pipes in the less-used and unheated areas, such as piping in the attic, basement, etc. These exposed pipes must be insulated with a higher priority.
2. Second, the homeowner needs to allow a trickle of water to prevent freezing due to the associated constant flow and pressure relief.
3. Third, it is better to set a thermostat to ensure a consistent temperature around the piping.
4. Furthermore, it is essential to keep the doors under basins and sinks open to ensure that warm air interacts.
5. Finally, if the home area is large and a considerable number of pipes are exposed to cold air, we recommend taking assistance from a winterizing company’s assistance. 

     4. Making Ready the Gutter for Winter

Cleaning the gutters is crucial to prevent ice dams, protect the foundation, and maintain curb appeal in the winter seasons. The following is the stepwise guide to do that:

1. Step 01: The respective worker needs to wear appropriate PPE like working gloves, sturdy shoes, etc.
2. Step 02: Extract out the deposition of leaves, twigs, and any other form of debris.
3. Step 03: Now, the worker has to use a hose pipe and connect it to a high-pressure water source. The respective water flow is used to clean out the remaining debris.
4. Step 04: The worker needs to check for holes, cracks, etc., and repair those.
5. Step 05: Finally, it is essential to ensure downspouts are clear and take the water away from the foundation. 
   
   

      5. Some Minor but Important Preparations

Here, we list some minor preparation works that are essential to take care of:

• Insulating the water heater and setting the temperature at 120°F towards balancing efficiency and comfort.
• Prepare tools to deal with snow. The tools are shovel, snow blower, ice melt, sand, etc.
• The homeowner must check the functioning status of the smoke alarms to ensure safe staying without encountering any in-house fire incidents.
• We advise installation of new batteries as we do for our customers’ smoke and other alarms.
• Switching the direction of the ceiling fan’s rotation ensures warm air spreads throughout the room. Most importantly, this action pushes the hot air downward due to the reduced self-weight, and warm air goes upward.

With decades-long experience in preparing homes for the winter months in various cities in the USA, we can say that the above-mentioned ways are adequate to ensure comfort and safe staying in the cold months. 

Still, the mentioned ways sound simple and easy to do, but those are critical enough for common people. We suggest you take professional assistance- it will cost you a little but save your most valuable investment: the house. Contact PierMagic any time if you have queries or need more information. Give us a call at 816-765-4800 or https://www.piermagic.com/Contact