6 Simple Winter Home Maintenance Tasks

Performing seasonal home maintenance tasks can help keep your home looking its best and operating most efficiently. Whether you are planning to buy a new house or you plan to stay where you are indefinitely, make sure you do these home maintenance tasks every winter. 

With the winter being the coldest time of the year, be diligent about outdoor tasks, and use limited daylight strategically to perform indoor maintenance. Doing these tasks will help prevent expensive fixes later in the year, and give you time to enjoy the warmer days that are around the corner.

6 Winter Maintenance Tasks for Homeowners

Remove A/C Units from windows

There is a high chance you will not need the A/C unit for months once winter hits. The A/C unit should be removed from your window right as the temperatures start to drop and before they drop too much. A lot of warm air can escape the room around and through the A/C unit without you knowing. Additionally, it will help declutter your room by storing the A/C unit away for the winter months.

Put Winter Tools in a Convenient Place

Winter comes with many unknowns when it comes to the weather. You’re going to want to locate all of the tools you’ll need before it’s too late. These tools can include, placing flashlights in all the bedrooms in case of a power outage and having your deicers in your car or de-icing spray convenient in your garage. You likely will not need to use your spring tools in the winter, so this also give you a chance to free up some space and organize your tools for the next time you’ll need those tools. Create DIY tool storage organizers that will take the pain out of keeping your tools easy-to-find when you need them.

Clean Your Shower Head

Cleaning your shower heads comes with great benefits and is simple to do. Cleaning all of your shower heads in your home will improve water efficiency as well as water pressure. To clean your shower heads, fill a bag with white vinegar, tie it around the shower head and leave it overnight. Keeping up on cleaning your shower heads doesn’t take much time and can improve the quality of your showers.

Test Your Electricity

Take a couple hours and test your electrical outlets for signs of damage or shorts. The easiest way to check outlets is to take a small appliance and see if it works when you plug it in. A simple appliance could be a hairdryer, night light, or small radio. To get a more detailed reading, get a multimeter to make sure the voltage is proper in each outlet. The proper reading is 110v-120v AC.

Test Your Fire Alarms

Yes your alarms typically chirp when they need new batteries, but you don’t want to be caught in a fire and your alarm doesn’t go off. Testing your fire alarms only takes 10 minutes and is worth the peace of mind. To confirm that the fire alarms work, check the batteries in all types of alarms in your home. The winter poses extra risk of carbon monoxide and fire due to higher use of heat, lights, candles, and oven use.

Drain Your Water Heater

Like anything that holds water, your water heater can build up sediment at the bottom. It’s not overly harmful but can shorten the lifespan of the heater. Too much sediment can prevent the heater from draining in an emergency situation. To drain the water heater, turn off the power to the heater, turn off the cold-water supply valve, hook a garden hose to the drain value, open drain valve once hose is attached, open pressure relief valve on top of the tank, allow the water to drain out, then open the cold-water valve for a few minutes to wash away remaining sediment.

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