Winter Home Checklist Before the Cold Arrives
October is the month to get your home ready for winter, before Philadelphia’s first hard freeze turns small problems into expensive ones. A weekend of preventive work now can head off burst pipes, dead furnaces, and sky-high heating bills later.
Start with the plumbing. Pipes that run through unheated spaces like crawl spaces, garages, and exterior walls are the most likely to freeze and burst. Wrap exposed pipes with foam insulation sleeves, which are inexpensive and widely available at hardware stores. If you know a pipe has frozen before, that is the one to prioritize.
Next, disconnect garden hoses and shut off the water to exterior faucets. Water left sitting in an outdoor spigot can freeze, expand, and crack the pipe inside the wall. If your home has a separate shutoff valve for outside lines, close it and drain the line after the hoses are removed.
Heating systems deserve attention before you need them at full strength. Schedule a furnace or boiler tune-up with a licensed technician, who can catch worn parts and efficiency problems before a cold night exposes them. Replace furnace filters, which clog over summer and force the system to work harder.
Gutters and downspouts are easy to forget and costly to ignore. Clear out fallen leaves so melting snow and rain can drain properly instead of backing up under the roof. Make sure downspouts direct water away from the foundation, where it can seep into basements.
Walk around your home and seal the drafts. Feel for cold air around windows and doors, and refresh worn weatherstripping or caulk where the seal has cracked. Drafty frames are among the most common sources of wasted heat, and sealing them is one of the cheapest improvements a homeowner can make.
Take a look at the roof while the weather is still mild. Scan from the ground or a safe ladder position for missing, cracked, or curling shingles, and check flashing around chimneys and vents. Fixing a small problem in October beats discovering a leak during a January ice storm.
Finally, test your safety equipment. Press the test button on every smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector, and replace batteries that are more than a year old. Carbon monoxide detectors are especially important in winter, when heating systems run constantly and homes are sealed tight.
None of this work requires special skill, and most of it costs little. What it does require is timing. Do it in October, when contractors are available and the weather cooperates, rather than in December, when everyone else is calling with the same frozen pipe.