Are you ready for winter? Cold and snowy weather always comes out of nowhere, but we can always be better at preparing for it. And homes need our help when it comes to moving into a new season.
Nebraska winters can be tough on a home, but there are several things you can do to help protect your investment. Take advantage of any nice weather to walk around the exterior of your home and complete these seven crucial tasks to help keep your home safe from the elements and save you thousands of dollars in potential repairs down the road. Read on to see how to protect your investment and keep your home happy!
1. Disconnect hoses
Locate any hoses that are hooked up to your house and disconnect them. Leaving hoses connected to the spigot allows the water inside to freeze and expand, leading to your pipes breaking. If you have a pool, shut down the system and prepare it for winter. Get last-minute pool work done in the fall if you need to.
2. Check sprinklers, blow out, and turn off
Outside water faucets are vulnerable and unprotected from the elements, so ensure that your sprinklers are blown out and turned off before wintertime. They can freeze over, and water left in the sprinkler lines can also expand, just like the hose line, and this damage can be costly. Disconnecting your hose/sprinklers could save you hundreds of dollars in damage, repairs, or replacing broken lines in the spring.
You can do a basic line drain by shutting off the water valve to your outside spigot and going outside to open the exterior spigot valve and let the water drain out of the line. If water freezes, it has room to expand without bursting. Don't turn on the water until next spring.
3. Check around your home for cracked caulking
Wood has to be protected from the elements or else it will deteriorate fast. Go around and look for cracked caulking. Make sure to seal up any caulking that doesn’t seem to be on your home well. Be sure to use clear caulking; that way, you don’t need to repaint the area. Don’t use siliconized caulking - it can be bad for the paint.
If you leave lousy caulking up over winter, it can very easily lead to water damage throughout your home. Water from snow can get in the cracks and start to rot the wood. We recommend using Sher-max caulk, which comes in white & clear coloring.
4. Pressure wash your home
If possible, use a pressure washer to wash the exterior of your home 1-2 times per year. You can rent a power washer, or hire somebody to come out and do it for you, for a reasonable price. The wood on decks is pressure-treated or rot-resistant.
Pressure washing your home can help extend the life of the paint you have on your home. It also helps show more damage that you have, like lousy caulking or peeling paint.
5. Check for peeling paint
Peeling paint seems like something you would want to leave alone, but that can damage your home. After the power wash, walk around and check for peeling paint. Use a putty knife or a 5-in-1 to scrape the peeling paint off. After the scraping, you’ll want to prime it and then put another coat of paint over top of it.
Peeling paint on your home allows water to penetrate behind the paint and rot the wood. Peeling away some of the paint and correcting those areas will stop the wood from rotting. Repairing rotted wood costs homeowners anywhere from $800-$1,200.
6. Take care of your lawn
Yard care is always essential, but before winter, it’s vital! Now is the time to aerate your yard, rake away all leaves, Remove furniture from the lawn, etc.
If you don’t spend time on your lawn before winter, the snow and temperature can harm your lawn come springtime. Leaving things on the grass can kill the grass, which is a pain to fix in the spring!
7. Cover or put away furniture
The best way to protect furniture is by putting it away in a garage or a shed. If you don’t have free space to house your furniture, cover them with quality furniture covers.
Even outdoor weather-resistant furniture has a hard time in Nebraska winters. Taking care of it will help it last longer and could save you up to thousands of dollars!
At Brush & Roll Painting, we know that home painting is a serious investment. We also believe that any paint job is only as good as the prep. If you want a quality paint job that will stand the test of time, give us a call at (402) 932-9764 or schedule an estimate online.
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