How to Get Your Home Ready for Winter

Winter will be here in less than 2 weeks!

We’ll have to tuck ourselves away soon. The idea may sound fun to some people, like a seasonal time-out to keep you from being too busy. But while you’re hibernating, winter weather can take a tremendous toll on the inside and outside of your home. If you don’t prepare your entire home for the winter, there’s not much you can do (safely) to protect it — and your household — during the season.

Winterizing your home doesn’t have to put you in a tizzy. It’s possible for you and your home to be safe, stress-free, and sound during the winter. Using these tips, it’ll be no sweat to winterize your home!

Change Your Clothes

No, not the clothes on your back. Well, do that soon. But I digress.

You’ve probably pulled out some of your heavy sweaters and tights out of storage already. It’s been cold lately, and you don’t want fashion to be the reason you’re left shivering outside. In temperate areas like here in the Northeast, changes in the weather are hard to navigate; you probably kept a lot of your summer/fall clothing out of storage, too.

You can put all of your summer (and most of your fall) clothes away. Keep some of your loungewear, as you can easily regulate your home’s temperature, and you’ll have leeway to wear what you want in your home because of that.

The 70- and 80-degree weather is gone for now, and even the warmer days we’ll see won’t be totally pleasant. If you put away your summer and fall clothes, you’ll have more space in which to keep the winter clothes you’ll be using.

Seemingly every year, “Where are my gloves?” and “Have you seen my scarf?” become common refrains in many households. It’s like winter accessories get up and walk away during the year, never to be seen again. To avoid frenzied searches and unnecessary delays, store your accessories (along with your winter coat) in a place you’ll remember.

Dry Your Feet

During the winter, there will be a lot of precipitation — usually snowstorms, up here. We’ll also get a lot of ice when the precipitation freezes, and we usually melt the ice with some form of salt. However, you don’t want your household, your guests, or yourself to track water from precipitation or salt residue into your home. Not only do those things make your house uncomfortable, they can also be hazardous to your kids and pets and mess up your floors.

When people come into your home, they’ll need to wipe their feet (or other assistive devices) on something. Keep a welcome mat by the outside of your front door, and a mat or rug near the front door inside your home. If you’re pulling your mats/rugs from storage, make sure they’re clean and don’t have the previous winter’s gunk in them. You can clean them with a bit of dish soap and water (and maybe a broom).

You may ask that people remove their shoes when stormy weather soaks them. In that case, keep a rug (or a mat or an old lined baking tray, separate from your indoor rug/mat for wiping off on) near your door on which to dry shoes.

Let the Light In

Some people like to save cleaning their windows for their big spring cleaning, which is acceptable, but cleaning your windows in the winter will make it so much easier to clean them in the spring.

Think about it this way: throughout the year, the windows will accumulate all kinds of grime and contaminants from outside. Salt for cold weather prep will add to the grime on your windows, and the buildup would make them a mucky (and damaged — buildup weakens windows) mess by springtime.

If you remove the buildup from the past months before they’re hit with the salt debris (as well as grime from winter weather), you’ll only have to deal with winter’s buildup.

Cleaning your windows in the winter allows you to let natural light shine through. Natural light is especially important in the winter; we see shorter days and less light, and it makes us feel gloomy. The light will make us feel cheerier. Besides, it’s a Hungarian tradition to clean your windows for the winter so you can see the beautiful snow falling!

Don’t Forget About the Outside

When you prepare your home for the winter, remember the outside, too. Your yard and patio will be in direct contact with the cold, inclement weather, and that can damage your home.

Rake the yard. Dealing with the leaves now when they’re wet and nasty is no fun, but you won’t want to wait until they’re wet, nasty and stuck to the ground. If you don’t rake the leaves in the fall, you’ll have to deal with them plus the snow later on, and you’ll create unnecessary work for yourself.

Make sure the hose and sprinklers don’t have water in them. Water expands when it freezes. If there’s still water in your hose or sprinkler when it hits freezing temperatures, they can crack.

Clear your gutters. Fallen leaves and other things can back up your gutters. When your gutters are clogged, they can break and make your roof leak.

Insulate Before You Hibernate

You’ll spend most of your time indoors during the winter. It’ll be too cold outside to do otherwise. When you’re indoors, you’ll want to be warm and cozy; you don’t want the cold to creep in and ruin your fun. 

Make sure your home is insulated before you stay in for the winter, so you won’t have to do it when insulation’s a pressing matter. Check the windows and doors for cracks. You can use a sheet of plastic or bubble wrap to cover up cracks that’ll be too drafty, and an old pool noodle or towel can block the draft under doors.

At Andy’s Quality Cleaning, we will do our best to keep the inside of your home in optimal condition. We believe your home should be warm and inviting, and you should be proud to call it your own. Contact us today, and we’ll keep your home spotless and winter-ready.