Tips for Winterizing Your Home
Before the heavy Chicago snows hit, it’s important to make sure that your home is prepared. There’s nothing worse than having a pipe burst in the middle of the night or your furnace conk out on a cold winter’s day. You can avoid many winter home emergencies by winterizing your house, including having an inspection of your heating system from the best heating repair company in the area — Leslie!
Protect Your Pipes
A burst pipe is one of the most common winter plumbing emergencies in the Chicago area. While all the pipes in your home stand a chance of bursting, it’s the ones that are close to the exterior that are the most vulnerable. Wrapping your pipes and insulating them can help reduce the chances of water freezing in the pipes and causing a leak.
Have Your Heating System Serviced
You can help extend the life of your heating system and make it more efficient with regular inspections. Often, dust and debris can build up, causing some parts to wear out thus making it inefficient at heating. Plus, regular inspections from a home heating repair company in Woodridge can help find small problems before they turn into expensive repairs!
Clean and Check Your Gutters
The gutters for your house protect the foundation from water damage, but they can’t function when they’re clogged with fall leaves. Cleaning your gutters and inspecting them for loose connections can help divert the snowmelt from your roof away from the foundation of your house and reduce damage to the home. You’ll also need to check the gutters after storms to remove ice dams that can break the gutters or make them inefficient.
Protect Against Drafts
Drafts around your doors and windows don’t just make the house uncomfortable. They also cause your furnace to work harder to heat the space, which in turn leads to more wear and tear on the appliance. Seal the edges of doors and windows with weather stripping, and inspect each one to help you save money on fuel costs and make your house more pleasant when the evenings turn chilly.
Check Your Smoke Detectors
House fires are more common in the winter months and can be started by a faulty fireplace or dirt and debris in the air ducts. Make sure that all your smoke detectors are in good working order and that your carbon monoxide detector works, too. This is especially important in homes with a fireplace, as CO2 can build up quickly.
Schedule Your Service With Leslie Heating & Cooling
Leslie Heating & Cooling serves the western Chicago area for all your HVAC and water heater needs. We’re a locally owned and operated company, able to work on most major brands of HVAC equipment and water heaters, both tankless and traditional. Our techs show up on time and ready to work, whether it’s an after-hours emergency or just a simple fix. Give us a call to schedule preventative maintenance services or to book your repair today!
