10 Top Tips for Making Your Home Winter Ready

With winter fast approaching, now is the time to ensure your home is ready to withstand the freezing temperatures and potential damage. In this article, we’ll dive into our top 10 tips for making your home winter-ready.

1. Service your boiler

Servicing your boiler regularly or even annually can prevent minor problems from becoming more serious. It also helps ensure that your heating sees you through those frosty winter months. It’s best to check your service when the weather’s warmer to help avoid the hassle of no hot water or heating when it’s cold outside.

2. Check your doors and windows

Throughout the summer and autumn seasons, you may have left windows open or on the latch for air ventilation. To prevent wasting money on your heating bill, do a quick check to ensure each window is shut tight, and ready for the cooler weather. Also, be sure to check any gaps in doors and windows so you can seal them to reduce draught.

3. Take care of your pipe

When the cold weather sets in, it’s not uncommon for the water in your pipes may freeze, leading them to burst. To prevent this kind of expensive damage, insulate them with polyethene foam, which can also reduce the loss of heating.

Also, watch out for any cracks that may appear in the outside walls that could let cold air reach the pipes. Be sure to seal up any gaps before they become a larger issue.

4. Bleed your radiators

After several months of no use, you may find that your radiators are cold at the top and hot at the bottom. This means your radiator needs bleeding. To get the most out of your heating and money, test your radiators and bleed them before the winter creeps in.

5. Ventilate your property

Not opening up windows as often during the chilly season can make your home for prone to dampness. To prevent warm air and steam from entering colder rooms, close the kitchen door whilst cooking and use extractor fans in the bathroom.

6. Update your home security

Unfortunately, UK crime rates tend to be higher in the winter. Therefore, put some time aside to check your doors, fences and gates are all working properly and secured. You could also consider whether you need any additional home security, such as flood lights or a front door camera.

7. Be ready for a power cut

In the event of a power cut in the dark, winter evenings, create a power cut kit. This could include torches, candles, matches, and blankets while you’re getting it back on.

8. Make sure your property is insured

One of the most important things to consider when heading into winter is whether you have home insurance. As we mentioned, the winter brings darker nights, which lead to higher crime rates like theft.

Check that you have sufficient cover in place, ensuring you know who you need to contact, and what you’ll need to provide to your insurer if you do need to make a claim.

9. Get your garden winter-ready

Getting your garden winter-ready really is a thing. Secure anything that could be swept away by the wind, such as plant pots and wheelie bins. Also, keeping on top of excessive leaves in your garden ensures they don’t build up over the winter.

10. Check your guttering

To prevent a build-up of icy gutter clutter, clear any rubbish and leaves from your gutter before the cold weather starts to sink in.

Ready for winter?

Now you’ve got our best tips for surviving the winter in your home, it’s time to get started before it’s too late! For homeowners, there’s nothing worse than when your boiler fails in the midst of a chilly winter and you have to call out an emergency gas engineer. For gas engineers, be winter-ready and consider project management software such as a gas engineer app to help organise your jobs during the busy season.