Winterizing Your Home
By: Chris Clackum, NBCNC
Updated: December 3, 2012
Parts of the country have already had a taste of winter, which is officially still three weeks away, and that should serve as a reminder to the rest of us to get ready.
Bob Markovich at Consumer Reports has compiled a to-do lists for winterizing your home, starting with water hoses that should already be disconnected and drained by now.
For outdoor faucets, in addition to covering the spigot itself, he says, if you can, turn off the outdoor water supply from the inside.
"If you don't do that, what can happen is the pipes can actually freeze, even if the outside spigot is turned off," Markovich warns.
Frozen water is what you end up with in a clogged gutter, which can cause leaky structural damage on your rooftop.
Down below, close vents to keep cold air out of crawl spaces.
For the Winter months, flip off the outdoor power switch to the compressor on your air conditioning unit.
It'll save energy and keep away rodents looking for a warm spot.
To make sure warm air stays in, use the candle or incense smoke test.
"You basically what to hold that around the window frames, and if the smoke is going vertically, great. if you see any sort of horizontal movement, you've got a leak," Markovich explains.
Those can be fixed with caulk, weather strip or plastic film.
Bob Markovich at Consumer Reports has compiled a to-do lists for winterizing your home, starting with water hoses that should already be disconnected and drained by now.
For outdoor faucets, in addition to covering the spigot itself, he says, if you can, turn off the outdoor water supply from the inside.
"If you don't do that, what can happen is the pipes can actually freeze, even if the outside spigot is turned off," Markovich warns.
Frozen water is what you end up with in a clogged gutter, which can cause leaky structural damage on your rooftop.
Down below, close vents to keep cold air out of crawl spaces.
For the Winter months, flip off the outdoor power switch to the compressor on your air conditioning unit.
It'll save energy and keep away rodents looking for a warm spot.
To make sure warm air stays in, use the candle or incense smoke test.
"You basically what to hold that around the window frames, and if the smoke is going vertically, great. if you see any sort of horizontal movement, you've got a leak," Markovich explains.
Those can be fixed with caulk, weather strip or plastic film.
