Winter Home Prep: Part 2

In Winter Home Prep: Part 2, we wind up our series by finishing a few outdoor items and then we move inside! United Country Midwest Lifestyle Properties agents are proud to stand on their own land and home property investments and you should too!

Rake and seed, fill and seal

Raking leaves is not one of the “fun things to do in the fall”. There are some who will argue leaving the leaves on the ground is part of good composting, but others will say that the tannins in the leaves can kill the grass, and make thatching your lawn in the spring difficult. SMART TIP: If you don’t want to rake, be sure to mulch the leaves with your lawn mower often; not letting the leaves ‘pile’ up.

Patching your lawn in the fall is a perfect time to help grass grow. Most hardware stores sell grass patch soil, or grab some grass seed and rake it in, throw a light cover of straw on top and water. Fall is an easier time to grow grass with cool temps and plentiful rain!

Take a walk over to your driveway. With colder temps coming, snow and ice will fill the cracks and expand them. Once expanded, the concrete or asphalt can push up or heave. Heaving will create problems for pushing snow and potential hazard for tripping and falling.

Head to your local hardware store and look for a concrete patch or asphalt patch. In certain cases, you can make uneven concrete areas smooth by grinding them to be level with the other cement.

Foundation cracks

Pay close attention to ANY cracks in your foundation. Inspect both the outside and the inside! Once you’ve identified a crack(s), take a picture so you can quickly find the crack later. A quick and easy concrete patch fix may tempt you, but the problem of the crack will still exist. Eventually, this quickly filled crack will expand and the patch will fall out.

Check out this excellent tutorial on YouTube for fixing foundation cracks. But if you’re not feeling the DIY vibes, we highly recommend taking a few pictures and measurements and presenting them to your local concrete contractor, who will make some recommendations on what can be done.

Don’t forget your plants that will need to winter indoors!

Once temperatures fall, your indoor plants that have enjoyed a summer outside have to come in! Walk around your home, patio, porch and retrieve any plants that need a warm indoor environment for the winter.

Now is a great time to clean up all the deck furniture. Washing furniture, umbrellas and cushions. Thoroughly drying cushions and umbrellas will prevent mold from growing and increase the life of your products.

Replace batteries, check window caulking

Now that we’ve finished the outdoor chores, let’s head indoors and do our last winter prepping. Check all smoke detectors to make sure they are in working order. It’s best to check and change the batteries at the same time each year.

Look over windows for dried out caulking or caulking the has pulled away from windows. Caulking helps keep your expensive heat in and the cold out! Don’t overlook this important money saving item.

Furnace, Geo-thermal or radiator checks

HVAC systems should have a seasonal check-up. You’ll want to replace the furnace filter regularly. Check your propane tank to make sure it’s filled and ready to go. Watch the percentage of propane in your tank. Once your tank is down to 30% give your propane company a call to have it refilled. You don’t want to run out in the middle of the night or weekend!

There are five important steps to maintaining your geo-thermal heating and cooling system.

1. Understand how your geo-thermal system works!
2. Have your pump inspected and cleaned regularly.
3. Make sure the ground loop fluid levels are at correct levels to give you optimum heating and cooling.
4. Pressure checks to make sure the system is functioning at its best.
5. Loop system bi-annual check.

If you have a home with radiators, you’ll want to make sure they are functioning properly as well. Here are a few simple tips for cleaning and maintaining your radiators. Grab your radiator key and let’s get started.

Turn off the heating system before you begin! Once the system is off, you can begin cleaning the radiator. Not turning the system off will only draw in more dust. Dusting your radiator can be done with a vacuum with different size heads. Vacuum each fin, in between, behind and beneath.

Place a towel beneath the radiator and use a soft cloth to get rid of any remaining dust. Then take a warm, soapy, wrung out sponge and gently wash the radiator. Thoroughly dry each radiator afterwards. Don’t forget to wash the skirting boards down, too.

Here is a great YouTube tutorial on maintaining your home’s radiators.

Whether it’s the indoors or outdoors, you’ll never want to be behind in winter prep for your home. Keeping up with each seasonal duty only makes for a great property investment. Call United Country Midwest Lifestyle Properties at 608-742-5000 and see why people and properties are our two favorite investments!