Take Steps to Weatherize Your Home before Winter Arrives

With winter coming to Cincinnati, there’s no time like the present to weatherize your home. Most of these tasks are comparatively simple, and will pay off in terms of reduced heating bills and improved home comfort.

Most will also pay dividends during the cooling season. If winter is already here, or it’s summertime, you can still take steps to upgrade weatherization in your home.

Take the following home weatherization steps:

Inspect your home’s rain gutters and make sure they’re clear of leaves, pine needles, shingle grit and other debris.

With all the rain and snow melt during the winter months, it’s essential that your rain gutters are draining properly. If they’re not taking away melted snow and rain, you can get ice in the gutters and drains, along with hazardous icicles and ice dams.

To avoid the latter, your attic should be heated, insulated and ventilated. If you aren’t confident in your ability to work from a ladder, don’t hesitate to hire this chore out to a third party. Have someone spot you if you do use a ladder.

Insulate the water pipes leading from your water heater with special insulation tape or tubes.

This is particularly important if the pipes run through any unheated areas. Also consider flushing the water heater tank if this chore hasn’t been done in a year or more.

You can find detailed instructions on how to accomplish this task online, but leave it to a pro if you have any doubts about your ability to do it safely and correctly.

Before winter, reverse the blade rotation on your ceiling fans so the blades are spinning clockwise rather than the default counter-clockwise setting.

The switch is usually on the fan housing. When the fan blades spin clockwise, they push air up toward the ceiling. This displaces warm air that collects in that area, shoving it down into the room where people can feel it.

The thermostat will also sense it, and as a result won’t kick on quite so often. You’ll want to remember to change the setting back when the cooling season arrives. Perhaps add this chore to your tax-time checklist.

Have a programmable thermostat installed in your home if you haven’t already.

Energy-saving setbacks can be programmed so your heating system is operating at a reduced level when the house is empty such as when you’re at work, or at night when you’re sleeping.

• The program can be set to return to a comfortable level before you expect to arrive home or awaken in the morning.
• The programmable thermostat also will save on energy bills in the summer.
• Many modern thermostats have Wi-Fi capability so you can adjust the settings if your own schedule changes.

Seal air leaks in your home’s exterior envelope, with caulk, weatherstripping and/or spray foam, depending on the size, location and type of air leak.

Install draft guards under doors to the outside (or in lieu of that, roll up towels and place them at the base of the doors on cold days). Sealing the outer envelope of your home also will minimize the intrusion of creepy crawlies such as centipedes and millipedes, spiders, etc.

If you have older, inefficient windows, consider replacing them with modern low-E windows. Your preferred Cincinnati based heating service contractor can counsel you on what sort of windows you’ll need.

Schedule fall maintenance on your heating system

After taking all of the preceding steps, don’t forget to schedule a fall maintenance tune-up on your furnace or heat pump with a local HVAC contractor you trust.

This will maximize the odds of your heating system operating safely, effectively and efficiently this winter. The difference between a well-maintained heating and cooling system and one that’s not can be measured in dollars, comfort and safety.

You can sign up for a maintenance club, offered by most reputable HVAC companies. Membership in Jansen’s Maintenance Club includes discounts on preventive maintenance, reminders that a tune-up on your system is needed, and other benefits.