This week on the Thoughts from the Crawlspace podcast, Jamie Miller, CEO of Gold Key Home Inspections, Inc., shares why winterizing your home is crucial to prevent damage and ensure comfort during the colder months. Jamie outlines key actions: removing hoses from outdoor faucets to avoid pipe He also shares why you should inspect your attics for insulation issues and seal any cracks in hard surfaces around your homes. 

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Episode Highlights

• Winterizing your home is crucial to prevent issues like frozen pipes and leaks.
• Remove hoses from outdoor faucets to prevent water from freezing and causing damage.
• Cleaning gutters prevents ice buildup that could lead to structural issues or leaks.
• Check windows and doors for drafts and seal them for better energy efficiency.
• Inspect your attic for insulation gaps and signs of pest infestations before winter.
• Seal cracks in hard surfaces around your home to avoid further damage from freezing water.

Timestamps

(00:01) Intro to Winterization Tips

(00:50) Remove Hoses from Faucets 

(02:22) Clean Your Gutters

(03:27) Check Windows and Doors

(04:38) Inspect Your Attic

(05:31) Seal Cracks in Hard Surfaces

(06:24) Check Your Roof

(07:58) Outro and Resources

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Good morning everybody.

A few tips today on how to winterize your home.

You know this is that time of year the leaves have fallen.

We're through our peak season with the leaves and our thoughts turn to hibernation.

More or less, right?

We stay in our houses, we don't get out as much.

But one thing that's really important is to prepare your house for winter.

It might already be there, but I have five tips, maybe even a bonus tip for you today on how to prepare your house for the winter.

The best that you can.

Number one, look around the outside and if there's any faucets you have that have hoses attached to them, remove the hoses.

One of the biggest problems we see on inspections is where people left their hoses on and the.

Let's back up a little bit.

First of all, a lot of modern faucets are frost free anti siphon type faucets.

And the purpose of those is when you shut the water off, it will drain back usually about 12 inches.

And so there won't be any water in the part that's near or at the exterior.

And the purpose of that is so it won't freeze and split your pipe.

Well, the problem is if you have a hose on that one and you don't disconnect it, you're not going to get that natural drain back away from the exterior.

So now you've got water trapped in that part that's near the exterior and especially when ice thaws, it expands and that can split your pipe and create leaks in the house that are just hard to detect.

And maybe they won't even show up until you hook a hose onto it next spring to water your grass, your flowers or anything.

So one tip, very important, go around, remove all your hoses.

Now some people say you need to insulate your faucets.

I don't really buy that argument.

You can do that if you want.

You can get those little like hubs you put over the faucet, especially if you have an older one that's not frost free.

You can do that and you know it doesn't hurt anything.

It adds a degree of protection.

But I think it's most important to get the hoses off of those faucets so number two, clean your gutters, gutters, especially through the fall, especially if you have large trees around, are going to collect a lot of debris and leaves.

Even if you have gutter guards or gutter helmets on it, you can still get debris in there.

And what that does is if you don't clean those out with, we get rain, it fills them up, it doesn't drain properly, and then it freezes.

And then it even creates a bigger problem.

You get too much ice in your gutters, they can even break, they can come apart, it can create more leaks.

And anytime you have water dumping near the foundation, it's a recipe for or an invitation for water into the basement.

So make sure you clean your gutters.

Make sure the downspouts actually extend away from the house.

Some downspouts will just stop or have a little, small, little splash block.

But make sure that everything is sloped properly at these areas so the water is fully draining away from the house and not standing next to the house.

Tip number three, check out your windows and doors.

Especially if you have some older windows and doors, they might be a little drafty.

Go outside where the trim meets the window, where the trim meets the wall.

Make sure you're sealing all those areas with a high quality caulk so that we're not getting drafts in or water or anything like that that we shouldn't.

You know, the winter is not a time we typically go outside a lot or look at our house.

So now is the time to do it.

Get out there, check out what you see.

If there's gaps that need filled, get that done.

If there's windows that are drafty, take what measures you need to to stop drafts, whether it's a high quality caulk outside, some kind of the weather stripping, especially around doors.

A lot of times you get access doors where the weather stripping starts wearing out a little bit because you've shut it so many times, you may need to upgrade that a little bit.

If you shut your door and look along the edge of it where it meets the door frame, if you see daylight through there, if you can see light through it, you're going to get wind through it and a draft.

So make sure you get all that done.

That's going to help your, not only your comfort level, but your energy bills as we go through winter.

Number four, and this might be something you're not comfortable with, so you might want to ask somebody to help you with this.

But check out your attic.

Check out your attic for any kind of missing insulation, low spots in the insulation, it's not a bad to check it a time to check it, just to see if there's been critters up there for the, you know, part of the year or they're, they're trying to make themselves comfortable for winter.

But primarily you want that insulation blanket to be even throughout.

So if there's gaps, if people have done some work up there maybe at one time and haven't even covered it back up, get that done.

This may involve getting a professional involved to add insulation of some sort or remove pests or anything like that.

So just make sure it's good before the winter starts.

That'll help your comfort level.

Number five, and this is back outside.

Seal any cracks in the hard surfaces.

So you got your concrete driveway in most cases.

You have sidewalks, you have patios, you have, you know, pavers, even that can get gaps in between them.

The reason why this is important is if you have a crack, water can run into it and then it freezes.

And as we mentioned before, when it freezes, it expands and that's going to tend to chip off chunks of concrete.

It can make the crack wider.

And especially if this is in a concrete wall or something, that can lead to even more potential for moisture entry.

So one tip before winter, go out there, get a high quality exterior grade sealant or hire somebody to do it to seal any cracks that you have in the hard surfaces around your home.

And I mentioned a bonus, a bonus tip.

We'll make this number six, check the roof for any nail pops or any defects.

Especially in a winter where we may have snow, you're going to have snow just sitting there and as it thaws and it melts, it can just sit there a little bit, melts, but it doesn't clear the roof off.

And so you got a lot of water up there.

Potentially.

If you have exposed nails, if you have torn shingles, if you have missing shingles, if you just have a low spot in the roof because there have been some rotted sheeting, you need to get up there and get that taken care of now.

Or what can happen is throughout the course of the winter, you don't notice it.

It's slowly seeping into the attic and all of a sudden you have stains on your ceiling.

And that's just creating an uncomfortable situation where you're going to have to replace the drywall.

You're going to have to find the leak in the middle of winter and do all that stuff you don't want to do.

So make sure that's, I guess, to review.

I think it was point number four, checking in your attic.

Besides pests and missing insulation, look for any signs that water has been coming in and creating a problem.

And that so you don't just have to check on the roof itself.

So, some quick little tips to make sure your house is ready for winter.

Make sure you're ready for winter as well, because it's coming whether we like it or not.

Some people love it, some people don't.

But regardless, your house has to stand the test.

So do these things.

If you have any questions on it, give us a call.

We'd be glad to elaborate further.

Thank you for listening.

This week, you can catch up on the latest episode of the Thoughts from the Crawl Space podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

For more information about Gold Key Inspection services, go to goldkeyinspect.com.