Fall Winterization

​As the fall and winter season approaches, it time to dig out the home weatherization checklist.  Effective fall weatherization can limit the winter weather’s impact on your home.  Moreover, w​interizing your home is an excellent strategy for reducing energy bills.

Winterizing your home ranges from simple techniques like covering your outside faucets, filling noticeable gaps around doors and windows and adjusting the direction of your ceiling fans.

Effective winterization may also require more complex activities where a professional is required.  These tasks can include items like adding attic insulation, duct sealing, and installing a sump pump.

Whether you can do it yourself, or need professional help, here are the top weatherization checklist solutions:

DIY Weatherization Checklist Solutions

Change Your Furnace Filters

Through the summer months furnace filters get clogged with all sorts of dust and debris.  Clogged filters make it nearly impossible to clean air flow in your home.

It best to change your filters once a month.  Keep a few of them handy so you can easily change them during the cold winter days. 

Clean filters allow your furnace to work more efficiently to pump out warm air.  This makes your home more comfortable and your heating bill more in line.

Protect Your Pipes

Prevent frozen pipes by removing outdoor drain hoses.  It’s best to cover these faucets with an inexpensive insulated cover.

Make sure to close inside valves that supply water to outdoor faucets.  Ensure that all water supply lines inside the home are insulated.

Clean Your Gutters

One of the easiest weatherization tasks is to prevent clogged gutters by cleaning out the dead leaves and other debris.

In some cases, clogged gutters can lead to the formation of ice dams.  Ice dams happen when water backs up and freezes near the edge of the roof. As the ice builds up it forms dams that block the path of melted snow from your roof.

When melted snow water can’t drain properly it can pool up and possibly seep into your home through your roof.  Over time this unwanted water can stain ceilings, cause wood damage and allow mold to grow.

Trim Your Trees

Trim all trees that have branches hanging near your roof, windows, or driveways.  Snow and ice can weigh branches down and possibly cause them to split or break.

Check Your Home’s Alarms

It will be darker soon as the days shorten.  This makes it more difficult to complete simple chores like checking home alarm batteries.

Take the time to test that all batteries are working on smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors and house alarms.  If you have not changed them in a few years go ahead and replace them with new batteries.

Adjust your Water Heater

Everyone loves a warm shower, but lowering you hot water heater temperature from 140 degrees to 120 degrees will greatly impact your winter utility bills.

Stand Guard Near Your Thermostat

It has been estimated that just lowering the temperature on the thermostat by 1 degree can lower the heating cost by as much as 3 percent.

It’s difficult to keep the temperature around 68-70 degrees during the cold winter months, but if you can you will see major savings in your heating bills.

Professional Weatherization Checklist Solutions

Add Attic Insulation

As winter approaches, the hot air in your home may escape due to poor insulation, especially if you have an older home.

As a result, the burden on your heating appliances becomes heavier, and they have to work harder. Consequently, you may also experience a rise in the heating bills.

In such cases, insulating your attic means that you can maintain the hot air in your home.

Adequate attic insulation can also prevent ice dams (build up of ice on the edge of your roof)  by ensuring proper ventilation in the attic and roof space.

Complete Duct Sealing

Another common solution for fall weatherization is the sealing of ducts. The ductwork in a home deteriorates with time. As a result, it may contain cracks and holes that limit the efficiency of your system. As a result, cold air enters the home and makes it chilly and cold.

Cracks and holes in your duct system can increase your electric bill by almost 20-40 percent.

Proper duct sealing prevents dangerous contaminants to enter your home which can impact your family’s health.

Install a Sump Pump

Is your basement damp? Do you often find puddles of water in your crawl space? Does water frequently succeed in getting into your basement due to the weather?

One of the best water mediation techniques is to install a sump pump.

Sump pumps are devices that suck water out from their surroundings. They are generally installed in a crawl space or basement. The collected water is then pumped out far from the home’s environment, thus preventing any flooding in the home’s lower foundations.

When too much water is continuously accumulated under a home’s basements, soil erosion can be caused.  This may may destabilize the home’s foundation.

Sump pumps can help eliminate the likelihood of soil erosion.

Hence, if you find your crawl space or basement regularly filled with water, then the installation of a sump pump can solve your dilemmas.

Upgrade Crawl Space Insulation

Have you thought about the insulation in your crawl space?

Most people haven’t, but if not properly insulated, heat can escape through the crawl space.

This hot air loss can be prevented by upgrading the crawl space insulation found in the foundation of the crawl space.

In many locations the cost of upgrading this insulation can be offset by local energy company insulation rebates.

Now’s the Time to Tackle Home W​interization Projects

Your home is a long-term investment that requires care and maintenance in order to retain its value and give you years of safe and healthy enjoyment.

Following these DIY checklist items can go a long way toward keeping your home and family safe and warm this winter.

We can provide expert crawl space and insulation installation and can help you decide if a sump pump will solve your crawl space water issues.

We are here to ensure you are protecting your investment and will be able to enjoy it for a long time to come.

​Contact Crawl Pros today for a free ​winterization estimate. Our professional estimators can see you in as little as a day. Give us a call today at 866-673-9626