Time To Ready Homes For The Winter

DETROIT (Friday, September 02, 2005) - Oh, it seems just like yesterday that I offered tips on how to get our homes ready for the spring and summer months. Alas, it's September and time to get busy with those fall projects that will prepare your home for the cooler months to come.

These tips are courtesy of House Doctors, the largest handyman-home repair/improvement franchise in America. Established in 1995, House Doctors, with more than 200 franchises nationwide, provides a variety of home repair and handyman services to local homes.

Weatherize to keep your home energy-tight. Some suggestions include using caulk on your home's exterior to seal out moisture and air. Caulk creates a tight moisture barrier that prevents rain and (gasp!) snow from seeping into gaps and joints that can cause wood to rot and paint to blister. The caulk also helps keep the heat indoors.
Another suggestion: Place a dollar bill between the door and the jamb or the window sash and sill. With the door or window closed, attempt to remove the bill. If it slides out easily, you're losing energy.

Clean the downspouts and gutters. Avoid basement flooding and foundation deterioration by cleaning the gutter channels and clearing downspouts of debris. Replace deteriorating or broken gutters and downspouts.

Crank the heat! None of us wants to think about this winter's heating bills, and none of us wants to turn on our furnace before we have to. But it's smart to give it a test-run to identify any problems before we really need to crank up the furnace.

Don't forget there's more to your house than what meets the eye. Prevent trouble down below by flushing underground sprinkler systems before the cold sets. Blow air into pipes to displace leftover water. This is important because water lines are typically only 6 to 8 inches below ground -- and prone to freezing. If they freeze and burst, you could have a costly repair situation on your hands.

Check the septic tank. Homeowners with septic tanks should think about pumping them now -- before the ground freezes and snow (there's that word again) buries your yard. Septic tanks should be checked once every year and cleaned no less than every three years.

Protect your pipes. Frozen or burst pipes are among a homeowner's worst nightmares. For a preventive measure, add insulation to pipes in unheated areas, which reduces heat loss from hot-water pipes and condensation on cold-water pipes.
Also install a freeze-proof outdoor faucet, which will eliminate the problem of a frozen or broken spigot. These faucets employ a long stem that shuts the water off about a foot back in the house and prevents pipes from freezing.

Conduct a water heater checkup. Just because your water heater seemingly works fine doesn't mean you should put off an annual inspection. Fall is a perfect time to have your tank's pressure and temperature relief valve looked at.

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