Getting Your Home Ready For Winter

We’re officially in the midst of autumn and if the weather forecasters are to be believed, we’re in for a long, tough winter this year. Cold weather is predicted to arrive by the start of November, so it’s a good idea to start prepping your home and batten down the hatches just in time for the return of the freezing weather. Here at Alan Wadkins Toolstore, we’ve got some great tips on how to ‘winterize’ your home so you’ll be prepared for when the cold weather and dark nights set in; we may also be able to save you a few pounds (unfortunately we can’t do anything for the other type of pounds you may see an increase in over the Christmas period)!

Make Your Home More Energy Efficient

One thing he cold weather can cause havoc with is your heating costs. We often see our energy bills sky rocket in the winter months due to our heating system working overtime to combat the heat that is lost through our walls, ceilings and window and doors. Fortunately, we have a few tips to help you reduce these spiralling costs.

Locate and seal any gaps

One of the main culprits to heat loss within your home are your windows and doors that may have tiny gaps – allowing precious heat to escape. Luckily for you, this can be one of the cheapest and easiest fixes. Once you’ve located where the draft is coming from, fit a weather strip. A weather strip is a thin piece of foam or plastic material which can successfully seal gaps where the previous seal has failed. You can also make sure of draft excluders on your internal doors.

Treat Your Boiler to a Service

Having a boiler which is properly adjusted and cleaned can help reduce your heating costs by around 5%, so it’s definitely something you should enquire about. Not only can this save you a bit of cash, it also reduces the risk of having a catastrophic boiler breakdown when you need it most.

Clean the Gutters

There’s nothing more annoying than having a leaking or dripping gutter when you’re trying to relax in your home. Your gutters can often become blocked over the summer and autumn months when they don’t get flushed out with rain too often and from the fall of the autumn leaves. If you have a ladder that extends to the correct height, it’s a quick job to clear out any dirt and leaves that may be causing blockages.

Prepare Your Garden

Although you’re not going to see any substantial growth in your garden over the winter months, you should never neglect your garden at this time of year and it’s a good idea to keep it looking tidy. Autumn leaves can wreak havoc on your flower beds and footpaths, so make sure they’re kept clear. We advise you pick up a pressure washer from our online store to keep your footpaths and driveway looking like new. If you keep on top of things, you’ll thank yourself come spring.

Create an Emergency Kit

The winter can throw a host of situations at you that you thought may never happen – including power cuts and burst water pipes from the freezing weather. To keep you safe, we strongly advise you keep a ‘home emergency kit’ in an easy to find place around you home. A few essentials that should be included are a torch, adjustable spanner and a blanket. We also suggest keeping a list of important phone numbers in there, such as the numbers for your home emergency cover or home insurance.

That concludes our tips for preparing your home for winter. Do you have any tip that we have missed? Why don’t you leave a comment below to let us know or share our post on your social media to help save your friends and followers money of winter!