Tips for maintaining your home this winter

With the cold weather finally upon us, you might be searching for the best ways to keep your home warm, dry and protected from the elements. Whether this is your first winter in your home, or your tenth, these tips can help you look after your home, keep you safe and save you money on your energy bills this winter. 

Inspect your roof and clean your gutters and drains

Unexpected leaks are a sure way to ruin your day, so it’s important to be proactive in preventing them. Make sure to inspect the roof on your home to check for any missing tiles, cracks in the flashing or places where your roof could be sagging. Cleaning out your gutters and drains is also important to make sure they are moving water away from your property properly. 

Seal any cracks or gaps 

If you have cracks or gaps around your windows or doors, then you are probably losing warmth from your home, and you could even be letting water come in. If you notice any gaps, it’s important that you seal them off to make your home more efficient and weatherproof. 

Protect your pipes 

As the temperature drops below freezing, it’s important to protect any exposed pipes to prevent them from freezing and bursting. Putting insulation around the pipes is one of the best ways to stop them from freezing, and you can easily do this with insulation sleeves or with fibreglass in very cold areas. When the temperature drops below freezing, keeping them running at a slow drip is also a way to prevent the water from freezing, especially pipes and taps connected to exterior walls. 

Check your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors

If you haven’t checked your smoke detectors or carbon monoxide detectors recently, now is the perfect time to do it. Ideally, you should be checking these detectors at least once a year to make sure they are working properly, so if you haven’t pushed the test button in a while, then do it now! This is especially important to do as you start lighting more candles, using indoor heaters and having your boiler running more often.  

Curtains and draught excluders  

Once your home is warm, there are a few things you can do to keep the heat in more effectively. The first thing you can do is make sure to keep your curtains drawn once it gets dark to prevent losing heat through your windows. If you can, think about investing in thermal curtains too to help to regulate your room temperature better. 

Draught excluders are another way you can help to keep heat inside your rooms, by preventing warm air from escaping underneath your doors. Don’t forget you can place these by external doors too, especially overnight when they aren’t in use, to keep the heat in your home. 

Be ready for the snow

Although we might not get a lot of snow this winter, it’s better to be prepared in case of bad weather than find yourself trapped on an icy driveway. Before it gets too cold, we recommend you stock up on rock salt and invest in a snow shovel so that you can clear your driveway and keep any paths around your home free of snow and ice. 

In case of emergency 

Even with the best preparation, sometimes issues can arise because of factors beyond your control. One of the more common problems we see in the winter is power cuts, but fortunately, there are plenty of things you can do to prepare, including keeping a well-stocked emergency kit.

In case of a power cut, we’d recommend you put together a kit which includes:

• Torches and batteries
• Candles and a lighter
• Blankets 
• A fully-charged power bank 

This should help you stay warm and out of the dark until the power is restored. 

  Back