Prepping Your Home This Winter from Water Losses

11/19/2019 (Permalink)

Prevent you home from having a water loss this winter by checking out these simple tips.

Now is the time. You’ve heard it every year, prep your home, winter’s coming. No joke: the cold can do serious damage to your home. Follow these easy tips to avoid potential losses.

1. Turn off exterior water faucets. Disconnect and drain hoses. If these are left on water can freeze in it and water will back up into your home, and worst-case scenario, bust all your pipes.
2. Turn off sprinkler systems and drain pools according to manufacturer’s instructions.
3. Caulk around your windows and doors. This can prevent water driven rain from coming in around your openings. It will also reduce your electricity bills by retaining your heat during the colder months.
4. Walk around your home looking for missing, damaged or loose shingles on your roof. Rain and snow will come into your home from these compromised areas, causing water damage that can lead to mold issues in your attic. Check your soffits as well and repair any potential critter holes you may find.
5. Clean your gutters. Remove any branches or obstructions to your gutters and downspouts. Debris can cause your gutters to be unable to easily remove rain water and snow melt, causing water to leak into the eaves and into your home.
6. Locate and test out your water main. Many haven’t been used in a while, if at all, and it may need a tool and some lube to be able to turn it off and on easily. A residential home experiencing a water pipe leak can release up to 210 gallons per minute. The size of a very large fish tank… per minute…. That is not the time you want to discover the valve on your water shut off won’t budge. Call our office for free water shut off tags.
7. Wrap any pipes located next to an exterior wall with insulation. If not, consider leaving your faucet dripping in extreme temps to keep the pipe from freezing.

Check and replace appliance hoses on a regular basis as well as check the batteries and functionality of your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

These simple steps will go a long way toward making your home cozy and safe this winter season. For any emergency situation SERVPRO is always here, on call, 24 hours a day , 7 days a week.