Very few things are maintenance-free in a home. Preventive maintenance is far more cost-effective than waiting for something to break and scrambling to fix it. Get your Belvidere, Illinois home ready for winter with these four preparations.
1. Seal Air Leaks
Air leakage is an important part of maintaining energy efficiency during an Illinois winter. Sealing gaps with caulking and sealants will produce fewer drafts, enable your home to be more comfortable, create less heat loss (meaning lower heating bills), and result in a better performing ventilation system.
2. Insulate
Proper insulation is a key part in augmenting your home’s energy efficiency, and it’s easy to install before winter hits. Older homes are sometimes under-insulated, but all homes can benefit from improved insulation. Since hot air rises, it’s no surprise that your attic and roof need the most insulation. You can also use an infrared thermometer to detect temperature variations between rooms to decide which rooms need better insulation.
3. Change Furnace Filters
If your furnace has old filters, it will work harder to heat your house. A knowledgeable homeowner can replace his own filters before winter hits, or an HVAC technician can perform preventive maintenance on the entire furnace system to make sure you’re not left in the cold this winter.
4. Winterize Your Pipes
Frozen pipes are a plumbing maintenance issue every winter in Illinois. Before winter hits, insulate the pipes in your crawl space. You can also wrap pipes in heat tape or thermostatically controlled heat cables. Seal air leaks near pipes to avoid letting cold air near inside pipes. Also, remember to disconnect garden hoses and shut off and drain water from pipes leading to outside faucets.
Preventive maintenance is the best way to avoid serious problems during a cold Illinois winter, but if something does happen to go wrong, call a trained service professional as soon as possible. The qualified technicians at Axberg can help Illinois homeowners protect their homes for the cold months to come or provide repair services for when the unexpected happens.
