As the seasons change so too does the weather and an English winter can be so unpredictable that we never know whether we should expect warm(ish) weather, full blown storms, or to be snowed in for weeks at a time. The unpredictability of the weather can cause many problems, not just to our ability to go about our daily lives, but also to our actual homes with cracks and leaks galore and unfortunately to the bills that come with them. Our homes are our sanctuaries and most probably our biggest ever purchases so keeping them in good condition should be a top priority. So, how can we prepare for this? What does winter proofing your home actually mean?
Top tips for winter proofing your home
1. Clean your gutters
One of the cheapest ways you can winter proof your home is by keeping your gutters in good condition. Before the weather gets too bad check your gutters and clear out any leaves and debris that you can see. From on the ground they may look fine but even if they are half full some strong winds could easily fill them right up leading to leaks, over spill and even breakages. No one wants to be up a ladder in high winds, torrential rain or even snow so make sure you do it on a clear day before winter hits to save yourself not only the risk of a bigger job emerging but also a potentially dangerous task.
2. Check your roof
Another way to winter proof your home is to check the roof, not just for any major damage but also for any loose tiles that could either come off in high winds and be both costly and dangerous but also for any cracked tiles or gaps that could let rain water in. Another reason why winter proofing the roof is a good idea is to prevent loosing heat on those cold days, no one wants to be paying for high heating bills for it to be going out the roof.
Once you have fixed the roof you may decide that it is still too hard to heat your home, especially if you have high ceilings and large rooms that take a lot of heating. A long term measure that can help reduce the cost of your heating bills is to reduce your ceiling height, this can help make rooms feel cozier and they are of course easier to heat. If you are unsure if you can make these changes, or what the standard ceiling height is then speak to a builder, you may find these a more cos effective way to winter proof your house.
3.Replace or repair the windows
Windows are something that most families will invest in, opting to upgrade them when they move in to a new home with most people factoring in a double glazing cost into their budget, especially when renovating an older property. Over the years many older house have gone from the old wooden frames to double glazing and now even to triple glazing but what lots of families then do is forget about them. After having such a large job done on the house and investing such a big sum of money we really should remember to maintain them. You can do this by making sure you clean not only the windows but also the sills regularly and properly, removing any mold quickly and always check the seals to ensure they aren’t broken and letting the heat out and the drafts in. It’s also much more cost effective to look at getting replacement windows as and when they are needed instead of putting it off and eventually admitting defeat and getting them all done in one go once again and having another large bill. For more advice check out double glazing windows UK.
4. Service the boiler
In a similar fashion to how we spend on our windows and then neglect them we generally do the same with our central heating and our boilers and you can, without a doubt, guarantee that if your boiler is going to break it is going to happen on the coldest day of the year leaving you with no heating and no hot water and most likely it will be 6 o clock on a Friday, so there is very little you can do about it over the weekend without paying over the odds for an out of hours emergency plumber. So in a bid to avoid this, service your boilers, get them checked before the winter weather hits, bleed the radiators and make sure they are all working in advance.
I hope these 4 top tips will hep you when it comes to winter proofing your home this year.
If you have any additional tips do let me know them in the comments below.
(This is a sponsored post).