Essential Winter Home Maintenance Tasks

As a single mom, you have a lot on your plate, which means home maintenance tasks can sometimes fall by the wayside. However, to keep your home safe and comfortable for you and your family during harsh winter weather, it’s important to set aside some time to tackle a few necessary maintenance tasks. To ensure your home stays in top condition throughout the coldest season of the year, make sure to add these essential winter home maintenance tasks to your to-do list.

Turn Off and Drain Exterior Pipes

Another essential winter home maintenance task to complete is turning off and draining your exterior pipes. When temperatures drop, the pipes outside of your house can freeze. If water is inside them, it can expand and cause the pipes to crack or burst. Plus, when the pipes eventually thaw, they could begin to release an uncontrollable amount of water, which may destroy your lawn and cause substantial structural issues. To avoid such costly damage, make sure to turn off your external pipes at the mains and to drain them completely.

Clean Your Fireplace and Chimney

Your fireplace may not have gotten much use during the summer, but you may enjoy warming up around it during the wintertime. If you do plan on using your fireplace this winter, it’s important to take the time to clean it as well as the chimney. Over time, creosote from fires can start to accumulate on the interior walls of your chimney. If too much creosote accumulates, it can catch on fire and pose a serious safety risk. Plus, any other excess debris in your fireplace or chimney could block toxic smoke from venting out of the house. As such, it’s important to maintain your home by taking the time to clean your fireplace and chimney this winter.

Add Weather-Stripping to Doors and Windows

To save money on your energy bill and to avoid putting extra stress on your heating system as temperatures outside start to dip, make sure to seal up any gaps through which cold air could enter your house. Areas where gaps commonly occur include around doors and windows. If you do notice an opening around the doors or windows of your home, you can effectively seal it off by adding some weather-stripping. Self-stick plastic weather-stripping provides an easy fix. However, if you’re looking for a more long-lasting solution, bronze weather-stripping is a better option.