Winterize Your Home
Winter is right around the corner, and getting your home ready before the cold sets in can save you time, stress, and money. Early winterization helps prevent issues like frozen pipes, drafts, and heating system failures, keeping your home warm and energy-efficient. While many tasks are simple enough for DIYers, some jobs are best left to professionals. For everything you can’t handle on your own, 1st Home & Commercial Services is here to help.
DIY Winter Home Prep Checklist
There are several things you can easily do yourself to winterize your home and prepare for the colder months ahead:
- Seal Windows and Doors: Walk around your home and inspect windows and doors for drafts. You can apply weather stripping or caulk to close any gaps, keeping the cold air out and the heat in.
- Insulate Exposed Pipes: Use foam pipe insulation to cover pipes in unheated areas like basements, garages, or crawl spaces. This helps prevent freezing and bursting when temperatures drop.
- Clean Your Gutters: Remove any leaves and debris from your gutters and downspouts to prevent water from pooling and freezing, which can lead to ice dams and roof damage.
- Test Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors: With the heater running more often, it's important to ensure these detectors are functioning properly. Replace batteries and test them regularly.
- Reverse Your Ceiling Fans: Switch the direction of ceiling fans to rotate clockwise, pushing warm air back down into the room.
Before a Freeze: What You Need to Do
When temperatures are expected to drop below freezing, take these quick DIY steps to prevent damage:
- Let Faucets Drip: Keep a small stream of water running from your faucets, especially those connected to pipes located along exterior walls. Moving water is less likely to freeze.
- Open Cabinet Doors: If you have plumbing near exterior walls, such as under the kitchen sink, open the cabinet doors to let warm air circulate around the pipes.
- Disconnect Outdoor Hoses: Remove garden hoses and store them inside. Cover outdoor faucets with insulated hose bib covers to prevent freezing.
- Add Extra Insulation: If you have pipes that are still exposed after applying pipe insulation, consider adding extra layers or using heat tape in areas where temperatures drop significantly.
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Call the Pros for the Tough Jobs
While these DIY tasks are effective, some winterization steps are best handled by a professional. Luckily, the experts at 1st Home & Commercial Services are ready to get your home winter-ready—with a special offer available now! Our "Winter is Coming" package is just $199 and includes:
- Inspect & insulate water heater supply lines
- Provide & install 2 hose bib covers
- Locate & flag homeowner shut-off valve
- Check incoming water pressure
- Inspect & insulate all above-ground backflow devices
Take the worry out of winter and let us handle the essentials. Call now to schedule—this offer is available until Dec 31, 2024!
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“Expedient, courteous, and informative.”- Jeremy L.
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I had 1st Home & Commercial Services out yesterday for a full day of work. They were kind, explained everything, and very efficient! Great service!!!- Plumbing Service
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“Chris arrived on time, worked efficiently, and resolved the plumbing issue. I will definitely use their services again.”- Simon S.
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“Our plumber was awesome. On time and knowledgeable. Found and fixed our issue in no time and even found a few issues that we didn't know we even had. Great job!”- Dustin Brown
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Nathan came to our home within 2 hours of our call for help - and it was a holiday weekend!!! He was thoughtful, polite, explained our issue and provided upfront and reasonable pricing. He was very knowledgeable and was able to unclog our "poorly angled" sewer line and get us back up and running again. I'm so glad my neighbor referred 1st Home and Commercial Services to us. Best service around!! Thank you Nathan - I will be telling everyone I know.- terri c
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