Preparing your home for colder weather is an important task for homeowners, and making a fall home maintenance checklist is a great way to organize what you need to do. Ensuring you are taking care of everything you should is much easier when you have a checklist to follow. To help you with this checklist, American Chimney & Masonry would like to share with you some of the most crucial tasks to include.
Have your chimney professionally swept and inspected.
Before you light the first fire of the year, you need to schedule an appointment with American Chimney & Masonry for our professional chimney sweeping and inspection services. Our Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA)-certified chimney sweeps take great care in preparing the chimneys of the Portland area for safe, warm fires during the winter. We will make sure to remove all of the creosote from the inner walls of your chimney to reduce your risk of a chimney fire. Creosote is so highly flammable that the CSIA has named it a leading cause of chimney fires. We will also look for possible problems when we inspect your chimney to be sure you can use your fireplace safely.
Clean your gutters.
After the leaves have fallen from the trees, you should have your gutters cleaned to avoid problems like ice dams forming on your roof. You will also want to check to see if your gutters are sagging anywhere as this can trap water. Tightening gutter hangers and downspout brackets is important in keeping your gutter system in good shape for the winter.
Store your grill and your lawnmower.
Since you will not be using these items during the colder months, you need to properly put them away for the winter. If you do not have a garage or other covered storage area, you should invest in covers that will protect them from cold temperatures. Before storing your grill, you should give it a good cleaning. As for your lawnmower, you should either add fuel stabilizer to its tank or run your mower dry to keep any leftover gas from deteriorating and damaging internal engine parts.
Prepare outdoor faucets.
You will want to remove any outdoor hoses from these faucets to keep water from backing up in the faucets and the pipes just inside your interior walls. The reason for doing this is that freezing temperatures can cause that water to freeze, expand, and burst those pipes. You should also turn off the shutoff valves on any water supply lines that lead to exterior faucets.
Get your home ready for winter by preparing a fall home maintenance checklist. To get started on these tasks, contact us at American Chimney & Masonry to schedule an appointment for a professional chimney sweeping and inspection.
