Just a friendly reminder that cold weather will be upon us soon... maybe sooner than we think what with the strange weather patterns we've been having the last few years. Now is a good time to start thinking about what you will need to do to winterize the outside of your homes and your car radiators... while the weather is pleasant for working outside. In the past I've been bad about waiting until I see the dark blue clouds of a 'Blue Norther' off on the horizon and a 35-45 MPH wind due in a few hours bringing a 30 degree temperature drop... then rushing around trying to do everything I need to do. Not this year!
Last friday we had all of the tree branches that were over hanging the roof trimmed way back, just in case we happen to get another big ice storm this winter... we didn't want a lot of heavy ice coated branches on the roof.
Flushed out the coils on the air unit.
I got the insulated faucet covers located for all the house's external faucets.
Made room for all the water hoses in the storage building.
Making a place on the enclosed patio for her large potted plants that won't survive out in the cold. Foam Pipe insulation & Duct Tape for all the faucets around the yard.....they are suppose to be the freeze proof kind, but I still turn the water off, drain the pipes & wrap them every fall.
*****Serviced the Generator.. checked the oil and cleaned the air filter. Checked the Battery. Mine runs off of natural gas so fuel storage isn't a issue... but if you have one that runs on gasoline, then you might want to consider going ahead and getting a large bottle of gas stabilizer to have on hand for when you get ready to fill your gas cans in preparation for a snow / ice event. Also, if you have gas left over from last year, you will want to discard it and get fresh gas for this year.
If you have any thing like a airless spray paint rig or a power washer stored in a shed without heat, you can get some RV water / toilet tank antifreeze and run some of that through the pumps [don't dilute it] to prevent the pump from freezing due to liquid being inside and it will keep your seals lubricated so they won't dry out. The Techs at Cambell Hausfeld recommended the RV antifreeze from Walmart over their own brand of pump preserver.. said it worked just as well and was a whole lot cheaper. Said it was what they used at home.
I also found that a couple of my roof's wind turbines had screws worked out of the braces due to vibration. So I got them repaired. Noticed that a couple of shingles were a slightly raised due to wind damage... so I stuck them down with a little fibered plastic cement. And flushed the gutters of twigs / leaves & dirt. Also, if you have any leaves or debris built-up in the valleys of your roof... water run-off from a heavy rain can back-up and run under your shingles. You want to keep the valleys clear of fall leaves & debris. We had a large Green Ash tree that dropped a lot of seeds and small twigs on the roof back a few years ago. The water that backed up caused several hundred $'s of damage in our front hall entrance way and I was up on the roof in a cold pouring rain cleaning the valley out. Because of that, that tree was cut to the ground and another reason I had all the tree branches on our other trees cut way back this year.
If you can think of any other tips people should think about in preparing for winter a little early, then chime-in. I've found that as I've gotten older it takes me a lot longer to get the house ready for winter than it did even a few years ago.
Last friday we had all of the tree branches that were over hanging the roof trimmed way back, just in case we happen to get another big ice storm this winter... we didn't want a lot of heavy ice coated branches on the roof.
Flushed out the coils on the air unit.
I got the insulated faucet covers located for all the house's external faucets.
Made room for all the water hoses in the storage building.
Making a place on the enclosed patio for her large potted plants that won't survive out in the cold. Foam Pipe insulation & Duct Tape for all the faucets around the yard.....they are suppose to be the freeze proof kind, but I still turn the water off, drain the pipes & wrap them every fall.
*****Serviced the Generator.. checked the oil and cleaned the air filter. Checked the Battery. Mine runs off of natural gas so fuel storage isn't a issue... but if you have one that runs on gasoline, then you might want to consider going ahead and getting a large bottle of gas stabilizer to have on hand for when you get ready to fill your gas cans in preparation for a snow / ice event. Also, if you have gas left over from last year, you will want to discard it and get fresh gas for this year.
If you have any thing like a airless spray paint rig or a power washer stored in a shed without heat, you can get some RV water / toilet tank antifreeze and run some of that through the pumps [don't dilute it] to prevent the pump from freezing due to liquid being inside and it will keep your seals lubricated so they won't dry out. The Techs at Cambell Hausfeld recommended the RV antifreeze from Walmart over their own brand of pump preserver.. said it worked just as well and was a whole lot cheaper. Said it was what they used at home.
I also found that a couple of my roof's wind turbines had screws worked out of the braces due to vibration. So I got them repaired. Noticed that a couple of shingles were a slightly raised due to wind damage... so I stuck them down with a little fibered plastic cement. And flushed the gutters of twigs / leaves & dirt. Also, if you have any leaves or debris built-up in the valleys of your roof... water run-off from a heavy rain can back-up and run under your shingles. You want to keep the valleys clear of fall leaves & debris. We had a large Green Ash tree that dropped a lot of seeds and small twigs on the roof back a few years ago. The water that backed up caused several hundred $'s of damage in our front hall entrance way and I was up on the roof in a cold pouring rain cleaning the valley out. Because of that, that tree was cut to the ground and another reason I had all the tree branches on our other trees cut way back this year.
If you can think of any other tips people should think about in preparing for winter a little early, then chime-in. I've found that as I've gotten older it takes me a lot longer to get the house ready for winter than it did even a few years ago.
