Winter is here, is your home ready?

I know that it is trite to talk about preparing your Charlottesville Home for winter, but it truly is important. Whether you are just someone who wants to stay warm, need to save money on your winter heating bills or want to decrease your carbon footprint, taking some steps to treat your home for winter can result in a lot of savings and happier times for the winter months. 

Additionally, if you are wanting to sell your Charlottesville Home over the next few months, nothing can turn off a prospective buyer than walking in and it being so cold that they can see their breath, or passing a window with a draft that chills their bones, and their enthusiasm.

1. CLEAN OUT YOUR GUTTERS

It takes a little time for all of the leaves to finally fall and, though you may have done your duty during the fall months, you might be surprised to see how much debris has built up in your gutters and drains in the first few cold months. A ladder (a someone to spot you), a simple spatula and a few hours can make a lot of difference to your home weathering the cold months successfully. Clogged drain spouts and full gutters allow the winter water and ice to build up. This can result in ice dams that actually damage your gutters and roof, letting cool air in and costing a lot more money when the thaws come.

2. FIND THE DRAFTS AND BLOCK THEM

Every house has leaks and they are usually exactly where you expect them. The simplest method to find leaks is to be sure the HVAC is off, light a stick of incense and then walk through your home, pausing at doors that lead outside, windows and anything that goes inside of your ceiling, like canned lighting and anything that penetrates your walls, light electrical sockets. A simple step ladder can help you reach those places and locate the leaks. Breezy days are good for this task as it will make seeing the drafts easier. The average american home has leaks that amount to a NINE SQUARE FOOT HOLE, according to EarthWorks Group. Plugging these holes can be accomplished with door sweeps (yes, as seen on TV) insulation tape around sockets or gaskets around the rims of canned lighting.



3. ADD INSULATION

Everyone knows this, but hey, insulation is in the attic and we don't look up there. Besides, it makes you itchy to deal with it. Nevertheless, the quickest way to get money back on winterizing is by adding insulation. Don't stress over R-Values or measuring tape or making this hard. Look in your attic and if you can see the joists, then you need more insulation.Buy plain, rolled insulation without backing and roll it out. You don't want to use the papered backing when you are layering insulation on top of the original insulation as the paper serves as a paper barrier and adding another vapor barrier can cause moisture issues. Don't worry about too much - so long as you are not blocking any of the attic insulation, you are good to go. One big advantage of adding insulation, it helps all year round!

4. CHECK THE DUCTS

While you are crawling around in your attic or your basement or crawl space, check the ducts if you have central heating. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that 60% of the heat your Central HVAC unit generates is lost because of poorly insulated or leaking ductwork. You can repair places where ductwork is pinched and use a metal backed tape to seal off any leaks you find in the ductwork. Surprisingly, duct tape is not recommended as it does not last over time and if you take the time to do this, you really do want it to last.

5. FACE YOUR WINDOWS

Windows lose heat. Its as simple as that. If you did our walk through from earlier you may have added weather stripping as a simple quick fix to drafty windows, but that won't change the amount of cold or heat that radiates out from your windows. This is not a simple weekend do-it-yourselfer fix in the way many of our other tips are, but if you find the worst windows you can budget to put up storm windows as an extra layer of protection and replace older single pane windows with ones that are double paned. Not a cheap fix but totally worth in terms of saving heating/cooling costs and a great boon when it comes time to Sell Your Home. One other tip is to have heavier curtains that you can draw over your windows at night. This added insulation helps to reduce heat loss in the coldest hours.

6. REVERSE YOUR CEILING FANS

Often overlooked and only thought of in summer months, your ceiling fans can help to distribute the heat more evenly through your house, increasing your comfort and reducing your bills. Heat rises and reversing your ceiling fans and setting them on their lowest setting helps to move that heat back down into the room where the people are. Not sure what "reverse" is on a ceiling fan? When you look up at the fan it should be turning clockwise for winter, counter clockwise for summer.

For a more complete list, please go to the full article at http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=13107899


If your home is older and you are feeling overwhelmed by its winter needs, just call me and we will find a new home and you can move. Not terribly practical perhaps, but certainly an option.

If you are wanting to Sell your Charlottesville home, Buy a Charlottesville Home or just have questions about the market and financing, you can check out my website or call me for an appointment.

Quinton Beckham
Keller Williams Realty

434.242.6212
www.buyorsellhomescharlottesville.com