Making Sure Your Home Is Ready for Winter Weather

If you’ve spent any time at all in Puyallup, you know that the winters can be long and cold. To avoid discomfort during the upcoming cold months, it’s important to know how to prepare your home before the cold weather arrives. Fortunately, there are plenty of action steps that Puyallup Heating & Air Conditioning recommends to make sure that your home is warm and comfortable all winter long.

Clean Your Gutters

When precipitation falls during the winter, you want to be sure that your gutters are ready to divert that precipitation away from your home. That’s why cleaning your gutters is such an important part of winter preparation. If you don’t properly clean your gutters, you could end up with ice dams that cause serious damage to the structure of your home. Even if your gutters aren’t full of leaves, your downspouts may still be blocked by small pieces of debris. Take a few minutes, then, to make sure that everything will flow smoothly during winter rains and snow.

Prepare Your HVAC System

You’ll want your HVAC system to perform perfectly all winter long to prevent your house from becoming an icebox. That means taking time to give your system a once-over to make sure it’s in good condition. For your part, make sure that your air filter is clean so that your system can breathe properly. It’s also a good idea to have Puyallup Heating & Air Conditioning stop by to inspect your furnace to make sure it’s working properly. If your furnace needs to be cleaned, lubricated, tightened, or otherwise repaired, an inspection will make these needs clear before it’s too late.

Seal Around Openings

To help make sure that your HVAC system doesn’t have to work as hard, it’s wise to seal around the openings in your home to slow the flow of cold air from the outside. You’ll want to caulk around window and door frames since these areas often develop small gaps that allow for unwanted air exchange. While you’re working on caulking, it’s a great time to inspect the rest of your home to see if you notice any other small gaps or cracks that need to be repaired. While this can be a tedious task, it will be well worth it when you notice lower heating bills during the winter.

Turn Off the Exterior Water Supply

Another commonly overlooked winter preparation item that Puyallup Heating & Air Conditioning recommends is turning off your exterior water supply. Leaving this supply turned on puts you at an increased risk for frozen and burst pipes in your home. Once you turn off the water supply, you’ll want to leave the spigots in the “on” position so that excess water can drain out of the pipes instead of remaining inside the pipes to freeze. If you have an irrigation system, you’ll also want to winterize and drain it so that you don’t lose out on the benefits of this convenient system when spring rolls around.

Clean Your Chimney

Although a furnace from Puyallup Heating & Air Conditioning is a great way to stay warm during the winter, nothing beats the cheeriness of a roaring fire in a fireplace. If your home has a fireplace, it’s vital to have your chimney cleaned before you light the first fire of the season. Without a thorough cleaning, you put yourself at risk of a chimney fire due to a buildup of creosote from previous fires. While some homeowners go several years without cleaning their chimneys, it’s best to have your chimney cleaned and inspected at least once a year. This way, you’ll be able to add some extra warmth to your home without needing to worry.

Begin Preparations Now

Although not all of these winter preparations may apply to your home, something that is universal about winter preparations is that you need to begin them as soon as possible. At Puyallup Heating & Air Conditioning, we recommend taking advantage of the warmer fall weather to get outside to help get your house in tip-top shape. If you need furnace maintenance, repair, or replacement, we can take care of you. We also offer those same services for cooling systems, along with tankless water heater installation, air purifier installation, and much more. Bringing over 70 years of experience and an A+ Better Business Bureau rating to every job, you can be confident that we will take great care of your home’s HVAC system. To learn more about preparing your home for winter, contact us at Puyallup Heating & Air Conditioning today.