Don’t Let Your Home Fall Victim to These Winter Hazards

For some, Christmas is the first thing thought of when thinking about winter. For others – perhaps, the less cheerful but more pragmatic among us – winter is a time to worry about warmth and safety!

This is actually a bad way to look at winter. After all, your home could fall victim to a number of hazards when temperatures plummet and snow falls.

Fire hazards

A lot of families will be using fires to keep themselves warm this winter. When you haven’t used the fireplace in a while, all sorts of things can build up in that area. Make sure it’s cleaned and that the ventilation system is completely clear. (And yes, that does mean that you might have to complete the unfun task of cleaning the chimney!) In fact, this is something you should be checking for all of the heating systems in your home. Double-check all of your smoke detectors, as well as your carbon monoxide detectors.

Outdoor precautions

A whole host of problems can affect you before you even step foot in the house! Ensure that your lawn and driveway are actually safe for use. You may want to consider salting the paths to your front door to minimize the presence of ice. Shoveling snow out of your drive is important for this reason. If you want to make the job quicker and more comprehensive, however, you may want to consider getting a snow blower. There are plenty of useful websites out there you can use for reference if you’re thinking about getting one.

Pipe problems

Frozen pipes are easily one of the most frustrating problems that can affect a home during winter. A lot of people don’t really understand how it happens, though. Most of the time, it’s caused by very cold water or even ice getting in from the outside and into your plumbing system. Disconnecting any garden hoses and outdoor spigots to minimize this. You may also want to look into pipe insulation to keep their temperature from falling too low.

Outage risks

There’s actually not that much you can do to prevent the sort of power outages that increase in frequency during these months. Most power outages occur because external power lines and generators get damaged or frozen by heavy snow and ice. The best thing you can do is prepare for such an outage. Keep food around that you don’t have to cook, and consider getting radios or other electronic items that uses solar power, batteries, or even kinetic energy. (That’s what powers hand-crank items!) You can get portable phone chargers that can be charged in advance so you can keep your phone going during these outages.

Preparing the roof
If there’s a problem with your roof, then there’s a high chance it will be sorely exacerbated during winter. Snow piling up on your roof is going to create a lot of unwelcome moisture that will start creeping in and causing rot. A weakened roof is certainly the last thing any home needs. Consider hiring a roofing contractor if you suspect there may be damaged or even missing shingles on your roof.