Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS
How do you get your house ready for the winter season?
Join the Handyguys in a not-so-methodical checklist for the winter season. This is not your every day handyman (or not so handyperson) checklist. We have some extras you may not see on other lists. Listen to the podcast as we discuss these items. True Value had all the supplies we needed to get our houses in order.
- As the days get shorter and darker, it is a good time to check all of your outdoor lights. Make sure they work.
Paul was able to discover these fancy CFLs at our local True Value. They look great, don’t you think? Perhaps it is time to install a light with a motion detector to secure your outdoor entrances and windows.
- Also, you can now get some wife pleasing outdoor CFL lights. You don’t have to settle on the curly cue CFL bulbs
- Watch out for leaks and/or water penetration.
- gutters/downspouts
- grade flowing toward house
- clear insulation around soffit vents to avoid ice dams
- Bring in your outdoor furniture
- Replace the grates and flavor bars on your grill. True Value has the parts you need for this.
Why not refresh your busted down grill and enjoy a few more cookouts this season? Paul picked up the new flavor bars and grate at True Value. The steaks came from the cow he bought. - Winterize your yard tools.
- Seal/weatherstrip and caulk around window and doors and latch those windows for the winter.
- Insulate your unfinished basement. especially around the rim joist.
- Clean your dryer vent before it is too cold to work outside.
- Install some heavy drapes on your windows to stop drafts. That’s what they did in the old days.
- Last chance for pre-winter fertilizer.
- Final chance for exterior touch-up paint.
- Is it time to stain the deck in the fall? Isn’t the sun closer to earth in the winter? Brian says no. Paul says yes. Which is it?
great article, great podcast. you’ve just reminded me to replace the grates on my own grill when i have the chance.
oh, and it’s not the earth’s distance to the sun, really, it’s the position of the earth on its tilted axis in relation to the sun. the hemisphere (along the north/south axis) tilted furthest away from the sun at any given point in time will be in winter. the angle of the tilt remains constant, but its orientation relative to the sun changes through the earth’s orbital cycle.
Majority of the ice build up on your roof is caused by blocked soffit, poor ventilation and not enough insulation.
Thank you for the checklist.
I have chipmunk holes in my garage. There may also be red squirrels there too.
what can I do about it for the winter.
You can fill the holes with screen and then put out traps (live or kill) or poison. Good luck.