- Check batteries and test smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
This is essential if you use portable heaters to supplement your main heating system. - Have your heating system or furnace serviced and cleaned.
Have a professional lubricate bearings, clean the combustion chamber and exhaust, replace filters, check and adjust controls, and check the unit efficiency. Seal leaky ductwork. Insulate hot water pipes. - Turn off water supply to outdoor spigots.
If you have frost-proof hose bibs, be sure to disconnect hoses, drain water out and store them away until spring. - Seal gaps and cracks around windows and doors and where dissimilar materials meet.
A modest investment in caulking will seal out wind, moisture, and insects and save you $$$. - Use your ceiling fan to draw warm air down from those high ceilings.
Switch fan rotation upward, set on slow speed to push that warm air down to the living space. - Clean gutters to keep ice dams from forming.
Ice dams can force water to travel under the roof and into the walls promoting mold, rot, and worse.
Trim trees that overhang the roof and clear materials from the foundation to promote drying out. - Check your sump pump and battery back-up system.
This is a maintenance item that, if overlooked and suffers a failure, will likely cost you dearly. - Insulate, Insulate, INSULATE.
The majority of homes standing today do not meet modern standards or are improperly vented and insulated. Educate and INSULATE!!!