Your Guide to Winter-Proofing Your Home in 2017—A Checklist

Maryland is a state that’s somewhere in the middle when it comes to winter. While we don’t get the same kind of consistently tropical weather in the winter as southern states like Florida, nor are we always guaranteed to get snow in the way states like Colorado are.

In another sense, this just means that our weather can be a little less predictable from year to year, but our seasons still change. And that means when winter comes along, you can’t just ignore it; you’ll need to prepare for your home to ensure that once the days get shorter and the temperature drops, you and your family are still comfortable. Here’s a quick list of things you can do to make sure you’re ready.

Insulate & Ventilate

Checking this is one of the most effective things you can do for your home—and your utility bills!—if you haven’t already. Insulation is a key technique in helping a home to stay warm, as well as keep your heating bills low.

Look at the insulation in your roof or your walls to see if it can be improved, or, one of these is missing, think about getting it done! Along with this, make sure you have proper ventilation!

When ventilation is not just about making sure warm air is circulated throughout the house, it’s also a way to ensure that exhausts are present to pump out waste air, or intakes are available to pull in air that’s required.

Without proper ventilation, water can start forming in parts of your home, including the insulation, which can eventually damage your house and severely impact your heating efficiency.

Check Your Alarms

Since you’re doing some preventive inspection and maintenance anyway, now is also the time to check your fire and/or carbon monoxide alarms to make sure they’re in good working order.

If you’ve got more modern alarms, you may rely on the alarms themselves to announce that they’re low on battery power and need a replacement. However, if you’ve got older models, or you simply want to be on the safe side, give them a quick check and test to make sure things are still working.

Now, with central heating kicking in more often, you want to make sure that your alarm is working properly in case of gas leaks.

Stock Up On Sidewalk Salt

They’re big and heavy, but they can be very important in keeping your part of the street safe and walkable should the snow and ice start forming on the ground. De-icing salt, or “sidewalk salt” as it is also known is a perfect solution for those times in the winter when there’s some light snowfall, but more importantly, ice has formed.

It can also form on outdoor plumbing systems. Obviously, taking out the old shovel and clearing out the snow is something that a homeowner still needs to do when the snow piles up.

But chipping away at ice on a sidewalk is slow and tedious work. If you keep a bag of de-icing salt handy, you can just pour it out, and let the salt to the work, melting the ice and restoring traction to the area in front of your home.

By following these tips, whether you’re in Abingdon or Bel Air, MD, you’ll enjoy a much safer, more comfortable winter. And so will the people who visit your home or even just pass by through the neighborhood.