The official start of winter is approaching quickly. Now is the time to take care of any last-minute fall maintenance to help prepare your home for the coming season.
The tasks that you take on now will make your home cozy, safe and more cost-efficient to run during the winter in Lakewood, CA. To help you along, we’ve put together a complete checklist for you to follow. Here is how to get started.
Carbon Monoxide and Smoke Alarm Testing
With the increased use of your furnace and your fireplace in the winter, it is important to have working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms on standby.
Press the test buttons and make sure that the units are working; remove unit lids and vacuum out the insides. Spider webs and dust get inside which can interfere with the sensors. Don’t forget to put in new batteries.
A few extra tips: never paint on your carbon monoxide and smoke detectors, because they won’t work as well. Also store a fire extinguisher on each level of your home, just in case.
Why you Need Insulation
You spend a lot of money trying to keep your home in good repair and looking its best, but in reality, it may be what’s behind the walls that counts.
If you don’t have enough insulation, you are wasting money by letting hot air escape through the walls. Do you have enough insulation?
Some signs that you don’t include drafts, mice and bug problems, attic leaks, fluctuating temperatures and high heating bills. It’s a worthwhile investment to upgrade your insulation because you could reduce your heating bills by 20-30 percent, or even more, depending on the circumstances.
Ventilation is Important
In order for your home to heat well, it not only needs a good layer of insulation, but it also needs proper ventilation. Ventilation will ensure that extra moisture is removed from the air so that that heat will be evenly distributed.
Exhaust fans work well in the kitchen and bathrooms. A heat exchange pump will direct air too. If you’d like to try something a little simpler, you can even open the windows a tiny bit for a couple of minutes a day.