How To Prepare A UK Home For Winter

Everyone in the UK dreads the wintertime. While the four nations are supposed to have four seasons, it can sometimes feel like we only get a month of summer and eight months of winter. The rest of the year is divided between a drizzly spring and Autumn. The main problems with winter include heavy showers and icy snowstorms. What’s more, it always seems like these conditions only strike when you are on your way to somewhere important. However, your house isn’t a big fan of the winter either.

There is a lot of damage that can be caused by harsh weather, and your home has to bare the brunt of this attack. Chiselling ice off of your windscreen in the early hours is tough, but it is a lot more enjoyable than having to pay for a brand-new roof. Therefore, you will need to know how best to prepare your home for the winter.

Put Away Your Garden Furniture

It is a mystery as to why so many British households invest in garden furniture. You spend all that money on this stuff but rarely get to use it. However, it is nice when you get to lounge in the garden on a deck chair or hammock during the summer. These items of furniture just make hosting a barbecue that much more fun.

These garden chairs are usually made out of lightweight plastic. This is because British summers rarely feature any extreme weather types. That is a far cry from the winter, however. Forget to put these items away and you could end up chasing them down the road when those strong December winds hit.

Clean Out Your Gutters

There is a strong possibility that you do not pay much attention to your gutters throughout most of the year. These protective devices will only catch your eye when there is a problem.

Unfortunately, these problems are most likely to occur during the winter months. Harsh winds will blow leaves and dirt in your gutters, while heavy rainfall is going to continue to push this muck around. If there is too much stuff in your guttering, then the rain won’t clear at all and you’ll end up with a blockage. That is why it is important to clean out your gutters once a year, preferably at the end of the summer. Cleaning out your gutters before the winter frees up space so that you have more breathing room for issues during the winter. Plus, it is much more pleasant to clear away than a soggy string of whatever the winter weather has to offer.

Insulate Your Pipes

The water pipes are another feature of your home that you rarely need to pay attention to. It is only when you have a suspected leak that you remember to check on them at all. Sadly, one of the most common causes of damaged pipes is their freezing over. What time of year in the UK offers freezing weather? Winter.

While you do not have the power to change the temperature outside, you can protect your water pipes from freezing over. You can purchase insulation for both your water tank and pipes to prevent the ice from attaching itself. A leaking pipe can cost you thousands of pounds worth of damage and make your home unliveable until the problem is fixed. Make sure you avoid these issues by insulating your pipes while you can.

Check Your Roof

Your water pipes aren’t the only part of your house that can fall victim to bad weather. Your roof is also at risk of damage when winter rolls around. A sudden freeze can cause cracks to form in the tiling and heavy rain can find its way inside these cracks and freeze again to create more damage.

It isn’t a great idea to be crawling around on the roof during a torrential storm. That is why you should get up on a ladder and check out your roof before winter hits. This is so you can check for any damage so that you can hire roofers near you to fix any problems before the darker months come. You may also want to head back onto the roof once spring hits. This is so you can get ahead of next year’s repairs so that there is less chance of more damage happening to your roof.

Bleed Your Radiators

Sadly, a radiator will stop providing heat if a bubble forms in the system. You do not want your radiators to stop working when the temperature outside drops. Nor do you want to be dealing with the problem after spending a busy workday outside in the rain.

The only way to prevent bubbles from forming in your heating system is to bleed your radiators as often as you can. Therefore, you should try to clear out your radiators so that they are in good working order when you need them most.

Learn About Good Temperature Management

Some people in your home may prefer the cold. Their recommendation, whenever you touch the thermostat, may include a line about putting on more clothes instead. However, there is an accepted temperature that you can use to keep your home a comfortable temperature.

Most experts agree that the temperature inside your house should never dip below 18 degrees Celsius whether you are in or out. As such, it is perfectly acceptable to turn the heating up if your home feels this cold- especially if you are coming in from the outside.

Establish Whether You Are A Flood Risk

Flooding is just something that is inevitable when there is too much rain and not enough drainage. However, the chances of your home being affected by a flood largely depend on where you live.

Every area in the UK has a local authority that you can contact to find out whether you are in an area that is prone to flooding. Areas that are most likely to flood are those at the bottom of a hill, near a canal, or situated too close to a riverbank. Knowing the risk factor associated with a flood should help you prepare for when a large rainstorm heads your way. Your local authority should have provisions in place, but there is nothing wrong with sealing your entryways with sandbags. Just make sure you have plenty to hand for when the seasons change.

Get Home Insurance

You may be wondering what you can do to prevent the damage caused by a sudden flood or burst pipe. Sadly, there isn’t much that you can do except try and reverse the effects of the damage as much as possible. Fortunately, you can recover much faster from the financial side of these issues if you have a good home insurance policy.

Home insurance is a policy that you pay into every month so that the company has that money available when you need it for some necessary house repairs. Since the winter can be such a volatile time for your home, it is a good idea to get home insurance set up before this time of the year.

Conclusion

You have a lot to worry about when the winter rolls around. The state of your home should not be another addition to this. Therefore, you should use the advice above to properly prepare your home for the winter.