It's Time to Winterize Your Home

Don't wait until the last minute to winterize your home. Now is the time to do a thorough check and begin to batten down the hatches in preparation for cold weather. Don't wait until the last minute to winterize your home.

Before it gets here, have your furnace or stove checked, and make sure the whole system is ready to go. Lay in a supply of filters, put in a new one and resolve to change them often. Once a month is not too much. Check thermostats and fans to be sure you won't wake up with frostbite some cold morning. If you burn wood or corn for heat, or just have an occasional fire in the fireplace, have your chimney cleaned.

Outside the house:

* Drain hoses
* Check for foundation leaks
* Clean gutters of autumn leaves.
* Check flashing around vents and/or chimneys
* Cover and store outdoor furniture

The cost of heating a home is already quite high in some areas, and with the threat of even higher prices, spending a little money, time and effort to winterize can pay off in a big way.

Close off areas that don't need to be heated or that aren't used all day long. Bedrooms don't need to be heated around the clock. Close off heat vents, then open them an hour or so before bedtime. If you have other rooms you don't use all day, close the vents to them, too. Guest rooms, dressing rooms, hobby rooms and so on, can be heated on an as-needed basis, instead of being heated even they're not in use.

Don't heat closets, pantries, etc. at all. Keep the doors closed to these rooms and use draft stoppers and weatherstripping. Keep them as sealed away from the heated area as possible. Don't worry about a pantry dropping to freezing temperatures unless it's on an outside wall of a very badly insulated house, but do move things like potatoes and other fresh foods to the inside wall or up off the floor.

After you've decided when, where and how to close these areas, it's time to winterize the area you have left - the area you need to heat.

Check windows and doors, fireplaces, attic doors and dryer vents... anything that opens to the outside needs to be weatherstripped and/or sealed completely.

Fireplace dampers should always be closed unless you are using them. Unfortunately, it's an inconvenience to wait until the fire has died down, then reach into the flue and close the damper, so often they're left open. A LOT of your paid-for warm air escapes through the damper because hot air rises, so make an effort to stop it.

Because hot air rises, attics should be given your attention. If yours is adequately insulated, it will make a defnite difference to your heating bill. There are inexpensive insulated attic stair covers that will help even more.

Dryer vents are often overlooked - who thinks about a vent in the back of an appliance that's used regularly? Yet any vent will vent your paid-for warm air right out to the great outdoors, especially if the flap doesn't close quickly when the machine isn't running. Even with a normal flap, hot air leaks out at a tremendous rate. Again, you can buy special kits to create an automatically operated insulated covering.

Windows are probably the most important when it comes to winterizing your home. If you have single pane windows, at the very least put plastic sheets over them - all of them. Storm windows are better, but nothing will help much if the frames leak. To find out, light a candle and very slowly and carefully, go around the entire frame with it. When the flame meets with air movement (as in air moving in or out), the flame will flicker. Mark each spot with a tab of masking tape or something similar, then go back and caulk each crack, even if it looks like a hairline. If it moved the flame, you're losing heat.

Don't stop with the window frame and plastic or glass layers, though. Heavy curtains or drapes can to winterize your home if you draw them closed when the temperature drops at night or during an especially cold spell. Taking that idea a little farther, you can make heavy coverings to fit the windows behind the drapes. Use Velcro (the kind that comes with an adhesive backing) and put it around the window frame, then match it on a quilted or otherwise heavy cloth. This will attach easily and remove just as easily, so it's not an inconvenience to use.

Doors... well, doors are big holes in the wall. Weatherstripping is a must, even if the door is new and fits well. If it doesn't fit snugly, it's even more important. Don't forget the top and the hinge side - they may very well need weatherstripping, too. Door sweeps will help keep the cold out, but even better is a draft stopper. Variously called draft dodger or draft snake, these simple products can make a real difference in the temperature of your home. Barring an official draft stopper, roll up a small rug or towel and push against the bottom of the door.

Winterizing your home is the most important thing you can do to save money and stay comfortable this winter, so make the time and effort to do a thorough job.