October home-maintenance checklist

With fall in full swing, now’s the time to get your home and yard ready for winter.

By Anne Erickson of MSN Real Estate

October is the first full month of fall; by the end of this month, most of your winterization should be completed. Falling leaves and dwindling daylight signal a final opportunity to do some outdoor organizing before winter settles in.

Repair roof shingles
Try to do this on a warm day if you have asphalt shingles on your roof, so the shingles will be flexible. Use roofing cement to seal cracked and torn shingles and to reattach curled shingles. Then tack down the damage further with galvanized roofing nails, and cover the exposed nail heads with roofing cement. Split wood shingles can be patched with roofing cement as well.

Repair siding
Do a fall siding inspection and remedy any problems you find. Look for damaged paint, warped or split wood, cracks or holes in stucco, and missing or slipped siding panels. Your repair tool kit will depend on what kind of siding you have: For example, wood siding may require wood putty, waterproof glue, nails and screws; stucco may require wire mesh, stucco patching compound, a trowel and a chisel. Most types of siding require a coating of sealant or primer, and paint to finish the repair and ensure waterproofing.

Fire fluency
Make sure your damper is in good working order by opening and shutting it prior to lighting the first fire of the season. If you didn’t clean your chimney at the end of the heating season, do it now — especially if you burn soft woods, which release more creosote. Often the first indication that a chimney needs cleaning is a chimney fire, so preventive maintenance is important.

Detect deadly gas
If you heat your home with wood heat or a gas heater, a carbon-monoxide detector is a must. These devices look and sound like smoke detectors, but they detect carbon-monoxide gas instead. Units that plug into an outlet are also available.

Check batteries in smoke detectors
Daylight saving time ends Nov. 7. Get into the habit of checking smoke-detector batteries when you “fall back” and “spring ahead.” Also make sure household fire extinguishers are fully pressurized and in good working order.

Close seasonal air conditioners
If you live in a place where air conditioners are used seasonally instead of year-round, this is a good month to close them down. Switch off power, make sure the condensate drain is clear, and clean condenser coils and filters (a vacuum will do). Either remove window units or cover them, to protect your home from drafts and the units from inclement weather.

Bleed air from radiators
Radiators can get air pockets in them when not in use. If air pockets stay, they will keep the unit from heating up to its full capacity. If your unit doesn’t have automatic air valves, you need to bleed it prior to every heating season. To bleed air out, turn on the furnace and circulator and open the supply valve to the radiator. Find the bleeder valve (it’s usually opposite the supply valve) and open it while holding a pan to it. Air should be released, followed by hot water (thus the pan). Close the valve as the water comes out. Lightly feel the radiator to make sure it is heated along its entire surface; if there are gaps, repeat the procedure.

Cut brush back from the house
Before stowing all of your gardening equipment for the winter, walk around your house with a weed whacker and a pair of pruners and cut back any brush, weeds or branches that contact your house. This task will eliminate a common access point for insects, rodents and rot. It will also keep branches and shrubs from scraping away at your siding during windstorms.

Watch those leaves
If you don’t want the tannin in fall leaves to leave hard-to-clean imprints on your deck and concrete walkways, keep those surfaces leaf-free. If you do get some leaf prints, try a solution of half water and half bleach (test it first in an unobtrusive spot — it may lighten the wood on your deck) or trisodium phosphate (commonly known as TSP) and warm water. Or, just leave the prints and consider them an artistic addition to your exterior look.

Winterize external plumbing systems
This is the most important job of fall if you live in an area that freezes in the winter. The simple fact that water expands upon freezing has caused countless homeowners innumerable woes. Ignore this job and flooding, water damage and thousands of dollars worth of plumbing bills will be your constant winter companions.

Here’s your to-do list:

• Drain underground sprinkler systems.
   
• Have outdoor pools drained and professionally serviced.
    
• Drain exterior water pipes and any pipes that run through unheated areas (such as a garage, crawl space or unheated porch). If draining these pipes isn’t possible, wrap them with foam insulation or heat tape.
   
• Cover exposed spigots with foam covers. Or, if cosmetics and ease of removal don’t matter, wrap spigots in layers of newspaper, cover the newspaper with a plastic bag, and seal the whole affair with duct tape.
   
• Drain and store garden hoses. Leave one hose and nozzle somewhere that’s easily accessible; you’ll need it for gutter cleaning and car washing.

4 winter prep essentials you shouldn’t skip

Get to know which parts of your home deserve attention before winter weather leaves you in the cold.

By Leah L. Culler of MSN Real Estate

As you’re digging out those sweaters and coats to prepare for winter, don’t forget that you also should get your home ready for colder weather.

Taking the time to complete a few simple tasks can save you money and make your home a more comfortable place this winter.

We’ve asked home-maintenance professionals which winter-preparation tasks are the most essential and why. Here are the four must-do things to complete before winter hits, as well as additional tasks you should do.

1. Gutters and roof
Must do: Clear debris from your gutters or have a professional do it. Make sure your downspouts are directing water at least 3 feet away from your home’s foundation, says David Lupberger, home-improvement expert for ServiceMagic and past president of the Master Builder Group Inc., a design/build remodeling company. (ServiceMagic is an MSN Real Estate partner.)

Also make sure that your gutters and downspouts are securely fastened to your house and that there is no blockage in the downspout. If you’re cleaning your gutters yourself, you can check for downspout blockages using your water hose. Insert the hose at the top of the downspout and turn on the water; have someone see if the water is running out the bottom. If there is a blockage, you can try to loosen it by packing rags around the hose at the top of the spout to seal it off, then running the hose at full blast. If that doesn’t work, try a plumbing snake.

Why are gutters and downspouts important? Winter weather typically means more rain or snow, which can seriously damage your home’s foundation. Gutters and downspouts are there to take the water that runs off your roof and get it away from your home. Keeping them working properly will keep your foundation dry and stable and save you a lot of money and hassle.

Should do: Check your roof for peeling tiles and any potential roofing issues. If you really want to be diligent, inspect your attic for mold, water stains and other signs of moisture.

“The last thing you want to do is get into winter with a potential leak,” Lupberger says.

2. Furnace
Must do: If you do nothing else, replace the filter, Lupberger says.

Should do: Have a professional perform an annual furnace check. Lupberger says a good furnace pro will vacuum the unit, lubricate the parts, replace your filter and check the thermostat.

Read:  October home-maintenance checklist

“Many homeowners change their filters regularly, and that helps,” says Donald Prather of the Air Conditioning Contractors of America, which deals with heating and cooling. But he says most homeowners don’t have the tools or expertise to perform the required maintenance.

“Furnaces are like cars,” he says. “They are mechanical, and they need regular maintenance to operate efficiently and safely.”

He recommends inspections of the furnace and air-conditioning unit twice a year: at the start of the heating season and at the start of the cooling season.

Lupberger urges homeowners to get that furnace checked soon.

“Don’t wait for a potential furnace problem,” he says. “If it gets to be 10 degrees and your furnace doesn’t work, you and 300 other people are calling.”

Lupberger also recommends that homeowners who have an older thermostat upgrade to a setback thermostat so they can program when the furnace runs and save money on heating.

3. Insulation
Must do: Walk around inside your house while the sun is out and look at the doors that lead outside. If you see daylight coming in around the door frame, that’s a sign that outside air is leaking in.

What should you do if you find an air leak? You can buy weatherstripping at a hardware or home-improvement store and create a tighter seal. Ask an expert at the store to help you find the right type of weatherstripping for your project.

Remove old insulation first, if possible. Make sure your door still shuts properly and securely after you install the weatherstripping.

If light is coming in from the bottom of the door, you can buy a door sweep to keep cold air out.

Also check for cold air coming in around windows and through switch plates and outlets. Weatherstripping can seal off leaks around windows, just as with the door frame. For the outlets and switch plates, you can buy foam outlet insulators and switch plate seals that will provide a layer of insulation to keep the cold air out. They are inexpensive and are installed just below the outlet cover or switch plate cover.

Should do: Lupberger highly recommends that homeowners have a blower door test performed to determine where the house is leaking air so they can insulate and upgrade to create a tighter, more comfortable home — not to mention save some money.

What is a blower door test? A blower door is a fan that mounts into the frame of an exterior door. It blows air outside to lower the air pressure inside the house. Auditors can then detect where air is leaking in the home and determine how to seal those areas. Read more about blower door tests on the Energy Department website.

Lupberger says the test, which costs several hundred dollars, can easily pay for itself by alerting homeowners to insulation issues that, when fixed, can save them as much as 40% on heating and cooling bills.

“Ninety percent of homes were built when energy was cheap,” he says. “That means most homes are underinsulated.”

He says homes usually have gaps that let in air at doors and windows and between floors. An attic should have at least 12 inches of insulation, he says. Any place where light reaches the attic through the main living space of a home needs additional insulation.

“For $1,200, you can probably get all the additional insulation and air sealing you need,” Lupberger says. “The payback should be fairly dramatic, but fundamentally, we’re talking about comfort. You’ll just notice how much more comfortable it is: warm in the winter, cool in the summer.”

4. Outside
Must do: If your home has a sprinkler system, it must be winterized to prevent any freezing in the colder months, says Sam White, owner of Preferred Sprinkler Service in Denver.

Winterizing that system consists of shutting it off from inside the home, draining it and using compressed air to blow any remaining water out of individual sections of the system. White recommends having a professional do this.

“It takes a pretty big air compressor,” he says. “If you don’t do it properly, the expense in the spring is pretty significant.”

White says an early freeze last year in Denver meant 70% of his customers had systems freeze.

“Instead of $45 to blow it out, they spent anywhere from $100 to $400 to repair it,” he says.

People who live in older homes may need to drain and protect their outdoor spigots, as well, but most newer homes have frostless faucets that close off inside of the house.

If your home doesn’t have frostless faucets, remove all hoses from the faucets and bring them inside. Ensure that the outside water valve is shut off, then shut off the isolation valve inside the house, if your home has one. Go back out and turn on the outside faucet to let any water drain out. Return inside and reopen the isolation valve to let any remaining water drain, then close the valve. Turn off your outside valve and insulate the faucet with rags or foam faucet covers.

If you don’t have an isolation valve, just disconnect the hoses and insulate the faucet.

While you’re at it
Here are a few other things to think about before winter hits.

Fireplace and chimney: If your home has a fireplace and you regularly have fires, it may be time to have a chimney sweep take a look. Lupberger says it’s a good idea to have this done every two or three years. Remember that your chimney is letting cold air into your house. Sealing your fireplace with a glass front or screen will reduce heat loss.

Pipes: You can save a little money on hot water by insulating your pipes so they will hold heat longer, Lupberger says.

Detectors: Check the batteries in your carbon-monoxide and smoke detectors and make sure the detectors are working. The danger of carbon-monoxide poisoning is greater in the winter because more people are burning fuel in their homes.

Winter supplies: Lupberger says homeowners should think about what they would do if the power went out for 24 hours. Have flashlights and batteries on hand, and possibly even a portable heater. It’s also not a bad idea to own a snow shovel, even if it rarely snows where you live.