Overlooked Areas For Home Renovation

When the weather turns cold in fall and winter, there’s quite a few things you can do to help keep your home warm while cutting down on heating costs. Some of these are a bit more obvious than others - buying new energy efficient windows, sealing gaps to prevent drafts, and so on. But there’s a few places that might get overlooked when it’s time to prepare your home for the snow and cold: namely, your roof and gutters!

Look Up Your roof is both a sense of potential heat loss through an uninsulated attic and a source of potential hazards when it comes to loose tiles. Minor issues with your roof can turn into major problems in the middle of winter. You don't want to deal with a leak or extensive damage. You should inspect your roof for any missing shingles. If you do not feel comfortable doing repairs yourself, be sure to contact a roofing contractor. If your roof is level and covered with asphalt, you'll want to clear off any debris before the snow starts to fly. Otherwise, you'll have excess weight and moisture accumulating that can damage your roof.

Don’t Forget Your Gutters While you're focusing on your roof, you should inspect your gutters as well. This is a project that you can tackle on your own with a ladder and someone to spot you. You'll want to clean out all of your gutters so that the water will run freely and you won't have an ice build-up. If you are not confident about your own ability to take care of your gutters, you can hire someone to take care of it for you at a reasonable price. You'll find that the returns are worth it when you don't have damage to your siding and trim. If you have downspouts running from your gutters, consider extending them. You want to take them out approximately four feet away from your foundation. This will avoid damage to your foundation and potential flooding inside your home. Take care of issues now while the weather is cooperating and avoid a fight with the elements when winter is in full swing. Whether you take care of these handyman tips on your own or bring in a professional, you'll find that your efforts will pay off.

Less Common Ways to Prepare Your Home For Fall

Everyone knows fall is a great time to start preparing your house for the colder months. Winter is, sadly, right around the corner, and fall gives you the perfect opportunity to start preparing for the onset of lower temperatures and higher heating bills before the snow starts to fall. There’s plenty of information out there about what you can do to keep your house warm without breaking the bank, but here’s a few lesser-known tips that can come in handy to ready your home for fall!

Cleaning and Dusting You hear a lot about spring cleaning, but fall cleaning may actually be a more important project. After all of the indoor/outdoor traffic and activities of the summer, your floors and upholstery may need a deep cleaning. Otherwise, once you close up for the winter, you'll be trapping that unseen dust and dirt inside your home which could increase the amount of allergens and cold or flu germs in your home. Take a weekend, or more if necessary, and do an in-depth dusting, vacuuming and general cleaning of your home. Don't forget to change your furnace and air-conditioning filters now and throughout the winter season to ensure the furnace runs effectively, and the air conditioning too - at least, when you need it!

Purify the Air When your home is closed up during the winter months, poor air quality can lead to sickness. An air purifier can be a great investment for your family's health. By removing allergens and pollutants from the air, your family may stay healthier throughout the winter when everyone is cooped up inside more often. An air purifier is a big help to people who suffer from asthma or allergies and to anyone who is sensitive to pollutants and odors.

Check Your Ceiling Fan Sure, everyone knows a ceiling fan is handy for circulating air and keeping your home cool, but you can also use it to keep your house warm when the heather is on. Reversing your ceiling fan to push air down instead of drawing air to it will prevent the hot air from rising to the top of the room. Not only can this keep the room feeling more comfortable, but it can lower your heating bills by preventing your heater from working too hard.

Get Some Plants You can easily find a list of air-purifying house plants online. Fall would be a good time to purchase some of these plants as they thrive better indoors during this time of year. Not only will they make your home more attractive, they can actually help keep you family healthier. If you have a sunny window, you can include aromatic herbs in your kitchen to help clean the air. If your interior space doesn't receive enough sunlight for herbs to thrive, you could use essential oils or an aromatherapy diffuser to help clean and purify the air inside of your home.

Last-Minute Home Projects for Fall

Fall is now truly upon us, and with that comes hot chocolate, jackets...and home cleaning projects! Even in the midst of fall there’s still a few projects you can do before the weather takes a turn for the colder to ensure your home is comfortable, clean, and prepared for the winter months.

Do a little cleaning It's always important to your safety, and to the safety of those visiting your home, for your walkway to be free of debris. During the fall, you may find it necessary to frequently remove leaves, acorns and other debris from your walkway. Damp or frost-covered leaves can cause someone to slip and fall.

If you see limbs from nearby trees that hang across the walkway, it's best to trim them before snow and ice arrive. The weight from the snow or ice could cause the limb to break and fall across the walkway or possibly on someone as they walk by. As ice melts off of the limb, it could drip onto the walkway and refreeze, making the walkway hazardous.

Gutters Late fall is a good time to clean your gutters. While cleaning, you should inspect them for damage and repair any damaged areas you find to prevent freezing damage during winter. If the water from your gutters flows across your driveway or walkway, you might consider adding downspout extensions to redirect the water. When water flows across a walkway and freezes, it can be a challenge to safely navigate the walkway.

Steps and Ramps Frost, snow, ice and even rain can make your exterior wood steps, deck or ramp dangerously slippery. As a fall DIY project, you can add some peel and stick abrasive strips to these areas to make them safer for everyone who lives in or visits your home.

Light the way Darkness comes early during the fall and winter. Adding some exterior lighting can increase the overall safety of your home. Walking from the garage or driveway to the entrance to your home can be safer if the pathway is well-lit. It's also a good idea to have sufficient lighting leading to areas that you and your family need to get to at night, such as the grassy area where you take your dog or the area where the garbage cans are located.

Keep The Heat In This Winter

Summer is on its way out. While it may still feel pleasant and sunny outside, you know that the good weather can't last forever. The cold and snow is just around the corner. You need to start getting ready for the change in seasons. Besides pulling out your winter wardrobe, you can get your house ready as well. Make a few simple changes and you can make your home cozy and warm when the chill sets in. Pay Attention to Your Windows Your windows can be one of the worst offenders in your house when it comes to losing heat. If you don't have a snug fit, you will have a major draft that will send that freezing air blowing through your home while the heat slips out. You're not paying to heat the outdoors. Consider replacement windows before the seasons change. Energy efficient windows will help you to conserve energy and you will eliminate drafts, ensuring your living space will be nice and toasty when you need it most.

Seal Your Windows if You Can't Replace Them If it is too much of an expense to replace your windows, you can always seal them to prepare for the coldest season of the year. Rubber weather sealing strips can work. You can also put draft snakes at each window. Using heavy plastic is effective as well. You can get the plastic at your hardware store and staple it on the outside of your windows. A window insulation kit is another way to go. Apply shrink wrap to the inside of your windows with tape and use your blow dryer to seal it. These creative alternatives will help you to stay warm in the winter without breaking your bank account.

Don't Forget Your Doors You can put all of your energy into preparing your windows for winter and overlook another source of heat loss. There are often gaps around your doors as well. Use weather stripping, caulk, and draft catchers to eliminate drafts with your doors. Take care of all of these issues now so that you won't be fighting with them when the snow is piling up outside your doorstep. You want to keep the cold outside. By taking these simple tips, you will find that your home is warmer and your energy bill is lower.

Home Remodeling and Purchases for Fall

Preparing your home for fall is more than just cleaning up and getting your jackets out of storage. If you want to make sure your home is ready to stay warm during the chillier months, now would be the time to take action and consider making a few renovations and investments for your home to help keep utility costs down and make sure your family stays comfortable. Inspect your windows A lot of heat can escape through drafty, improperly-fitting windows. Caulking around the windows is one way to seal air leaks. However, replacing old windows with energy efficient windows is a better alternative. Not only will your new windows help keep air in, statistics show that you get a significant return on your investment with replacement windows, and new windows are an easy way to improve the appearance of your home.

Window treatments Insulated or thermal curtains serve a dual purpose in your home. Not only are they an attractive window treatment, they also help keep the room warm and cozy. Interior shutters have become a popular window treatment. They add an element of sophistication to the decor and provide extra insulation in a room. One of your fall projects should be to purchase and install new, energy-saving window treatments in your home.

Rugs Rugs provide some additional insulation in a room. If you aren't currently using rugs in your decor, adding them to your home can make it warmer and cozier when the temperatures drop. If you have rugs that have been in place for quite some time, cleaning those rugs should be on your fall project list. Pets, kids and visitors can track in a lot of dirt over the summer months. You don't want that embedded dust and dirt to remain in the rugs through the fall and winter and cause illness or allergies.

Supplemental heat After you've taken steps such as those previously mentioned, you might still be looking for ways to keep your home warm without breaking the budget. Adding a supplemental heat source such as a free-standing fireplace would warm up and beautify any area of your home.

Doors A lot of cold air can enter and warm air escape through an improperly-fitting door. Adding weather-stripping or caulking around the door can help stop air leaks. Decorative draft dodgers can be somewhat helpful in stopping air leaks. For the most effectiveness, you might want to replace your current door with a new door when you have your vinyl windows installed.