Last month’s hit-and-run blizzard was a clarion call:
The time is now to protect your home from winter’s grip or the weather could inflict damage on both property and pocketbook.
Fortunately, routine maintenance can thwart the effects of our region’s characteristic overnight freezes, kamikaze snowstorms and rapid thaws.
Most people create mental checklists of cold-weather things to do to prevent burst pipes, appliance breakdowns and drafty chills. But the demands of everyday life can make it easy to sidestep basic home winterization.
It is with procrastinators in mind that Room consulted a range of home-improvement experts for winterization advice. Because, as one HGTV host tells his audiences, “It’s never too late to insulate.”
Kurt Osborn is a commercial sales specialist at the Lowe’s in Aurora. His tips for cold-weather home maintenance include:
Seal all windows, exterior doors and garages with weatherstripping, caulking, plastic window kits or foam sealant. Use socket sealers to prevent air that’s trapped in the walls from getting into the house.
Reverse the ceiling fan’s motor to force warm air collected near the ceiling downward.
Replace single-pane windows with Energy Star-endorsed double- or triple- pane versions. “Windows and doors are the biggest thing that people overlook,” Osborn says. “As long as they are still standing, people assume they must be working.”
Scott Morgan hosts the HGTV show “Dream Builders.” He suggests that homeowners:
Insulate attics with a product that has an R-value between the 20s and 30s. The R-value is a thermal resistance measurement. The higher the R-value, the better.
Install a programmable thermostat to vary the home’s temperature throughout the day.
Gravitate from electrical heat to natural gas or propane to save big bucks on energy bills. “Electricity is terrific for computers but lousy for making hot water,” Morgan says. “My major tip is to go to a tankless hot water system.”
Jennifer Kimball and Mark Armstrong are customer-relations specialists with Pulte Homes, which is building a 3,000-unit subdivision in Broomfield. Their advice:
Seal concrete in garages, driveways and porches with concrete sealant.
Water trees and grass during warm, dry periods throughout the winter. Some experts suggest watering once a month if it hasn’t snowed.
When leaving town for an extended winter vacation, shut off the water, leave all bedroom and bathroom doors open, and keep the heat on to prevent pipes from bursting during freezing temperatures. “Many people think that if they buy a new home, they don’t have to do anything to take care of it,” Armstrong says. “But there are still routine maintenance jobs that need to be done to keep the kind of environment you want inside that home.”
Rob Krett co-owns Colorado Property Inspections in Parker. From his perspective, winter demands that people:
Drain sprinkler lines or risk damaging valves or heads and burst water pipes.
Change furnace filters every four to six weeks, especially if you have allergies or pets.
Avoid running humidifiers at full capacity, as the moisture can cause mold to contaminate ductwork and exacerbate allergies and illnesses. “People … like to buy humidifiers but they crank them up,” Krett says. “There is so much warmth and moisture in the air, it’s almost like rain coming inside their house.”
Doug Maestas owns the Denver office of House Doctors Handyman Service. His advice:
Put foam insulation on pipes in the basement to stop them from freezing.
Drain swamp coolers to clear them of any debris. Disconnect water lines before the first freeze and wrap them in tarp to prevent winter drafts.
Check all vents, including appliance vents, for animal nests or other blockages. “One year we tried to light up our fireplace, but the chimney was blocked with a bird nest,” Maestas recalls. “Smoke started … coming back into our house.”
Mike Neubauer is an assistant vice president for MetLife Auto and Home Insurance. His thoughts on winterization:
Avoid the accumulation of ice dams around your property. An ice dam is a ridge of ice that forms at the edge of a roof and prevents melting snow from draining off. The water that backs up behind the dam can leak into the home and damage walls, ceilings and insulation.
Clear gutters and downspouts of leaves and sticks to prevent blockages that increase the buildup of ice dams. Use a roof rake to push snow off the roof. “It’s not uncommon to see a claim on water damage from an ice dam run in excess of $10,000,” Neubauer says. “I’ve got neighbors who go as far as removing their gutters every fall and reinstalling them in the spring so they don’t have ice dams.”
Meri-K Appy is president of the Home Safety Council in Washington, D.C. Her tips:
Keep portable space heaters at least 3 feet away from combustibles and turn them off when you leave or sleep.
Install interconnected smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. Improperly maintained appliances, especially fuel-burning ones used during the winter, emit poisonous CO fumes. A detector can provide the first signs of appliance repair or replacement needs.
Beware of falling. Winter hazards include tumbling off ladders when putting up holiday decorations, falling down staircases and slipping on unmaintained outdoor pathways.”It’s within our grasp to make these changes within our homes to keep the people we love safe and the time we spend with them happy,” Appy says.
Staff writer Sheba R. Wheeler can be reached at 303-954-1283 or swheeler@denverpost.com.
Car care
Seventy percent of drivers admit to ignoring the seasonal needs of their cars, according to the Car Care Council. These basic guidelines will keep cars running smoothly all winter:
Check your antifreeze. Without adequate antifreeze, the engine, radiator and hoses are not suitably protected against freezing.
Prepare an emergency kit. Pack a flashlight, jumper cables, tire chains and tools. Throw a heavy bag of sand in the trunk with your kit. In the event that a road is iced over, this extra weight will help with traction.
Check your battery. Harsh weather can cut a battery’s life in half.
Replace windshield wipers. Look for signs of cracking or tearing. Get new wipers after spotting evidence of streaking or smearing. In areas that experience regularly severe weather, consider specialized winter wiper blades made to withstand harsh conditions.
Keep tires at the proper pressure. Tire gauges are inexpensive and easy to store in the glove box. Consider specialized tires in areas that suffer from extreme winter weather.
Keep the gas tank at least half-full. This is important to prevent gas lines from freezing.
-Old World Industries
Take care of yourself
Donning hats, gloves and sweaters may guard against bone-chilling temperatures. But health experts say there are more steps we can take to protect our bodies from the ravages of winter. For instance:
Glaring sunlight, bitter cold winds, artificial heat and even long, hot showers suck moisture from the skin. That causes cracking, chapping, irritation and itchy eczema.”It’s best to apply moisturizer directly after a bath or short, lukewarm shower to help seal in and replenish the skin with the necessary water and oils,” says Rhoda Narins, a New York City skin surgeon.
Use products containing sunscreen.
Pamper hands, nails and lips as much as possible. When caught away from home without cream, use lip moisturizer on such vulnerable areas as hands, ears and toes.
Use humidifiers or pans of water to put moisture back into indoor air, suggests Melanie Austin, a Baltimore pediatrician. Humid air will stop nasal passages from drying out and prevent stuffiness or nosebleeds.
Boost your immune system by continuing summer exercise programs indoors.
Eat vegetables and fruits rich in antioxidants (vitamins A, C, and E). Baltimore dietitian Robin Spence touts zinc, mushrooms and lactic acid bacteria found in foods like DanActive as immunity boosters.
Open a window daily to refresh the air in your home and ward off mold and toxins, suggests fitness and stress management expert Debbie Mandel.
Decorate with plants such as Chinese evergreen, dracaena, Gerber daisy, spider plants and spataphylium, which purify the air and absorb toxins.
Shed some light on the darkness of winter doldrums. Sunlight streaming through opened blinds strengthens body and mind. This can prevent the depressive affects of seasonal affective disorder.
Get a flu shot – it doesn’t hurt, much.
– Sheba R. Wheeler
