With winter officially in full gear, we want to share some important tips to help you winterize your Chicagoland home. Some are designed to keep your family nice and cozy inside the house all winter long, while others are meant to help protect your home from the harsh winter elements.
1. Clean the gutters - The leaves have fallen, so give your gutters one final cleaning so the snow melt of winter can safely make it off your roof, along the gutters and down the spouts without backing up and creating ice dams.
2. Check your doors and windows - After the warm weather of summer, the caulking and weather stripping along your door and windows may have warped a bit and need replacement. This can cause drafts, which will leave you wanting to crank the heat or huddle under blankets all winter long.
3. Hire a professional to clean your vents and fireplace chimney - If it's been a year since your HVAC system was last cleaned, the air blowing through those vents might be distributing dust and pollens that have accumulated. This makes your furnace less efficient and could affect people who have asthma or allergies. Regarding your fireplace, creosote can build up on your chimney walls, and it is highly combustible. Build up enough of it, and you could have a very dangerous situation in your home.
4. Drain your outdoor faucets and shut off the valves to prevent the cold weather from freezing your pipes indoors and causing a lot of damage.
