Housing Tips for the Coming Cold Weather

There are two main categories of details that can make a big difference to the pleasure of living in your home: avoiding water problems and reducing heating costs.

Avoiding Water Problems

• Be sure to clear your eaves troughs of leaves before snowfall as once the spring melt comes the water that is meant to drain down the downspout can simply spill over the side of the eaves troughs and fall at the foundations wall. The more water that sits near the foundation wall, the greater the possibility is of a damp basement and the potential for mold.

• Houses often have drains that we forget about such as on a flat roof or outside a walkout basement. Be sure these are cleared of leaves so that you don’t have a flood with the melt.

• If you have a sprinkler system be sure to turn it off and have it drained to avoid hard to find burst pipes in the spring.

• Turn off the water to the taps to the exterior.

Reducing Expenses

• Wood burning fireplaces are lovely but remember that they draw the air that your furnace has heated out with the smoke. If you want to keep the wood burning fireplace adding glass doors will reduce the rush of air up the chimney.

• An automatic temperature control makes a big difference. It can automatically have the house at a comfortable temperature when you are home and automatically turn it down when you are at work and/or at night.

• For the most efficient running of the heating system make sure that filters are changed as needed.

• A lot of heat seeps out of our houses through small gaps so make sure that the caulking around windows and doors is intact.

• Open concept designs are great but if you can have a small dedicated foyer between the exterior door and an internal one you will lose less heat.