Well, I know I'm a little late to the game, but this is coming at you regardless. Did you ask for this? No. Am I going to still write this? Yes!
The winter months are slowly creeping up on us, and before you know it, the Holiday season will be upon us all. That means goodbye backyard BBQ's and hello to the Griswold and McCallister families. This blog post is hopefully going to remind you to not leave your home “alone” (see what I did there?).
It feels like yesterday, I was sipping a delicious cocktail on my deck, catching some rays. Next thing I know, I'm wearing sweatpants, and my better half is re-binge watching the Gilmore Girls. That means it is time to hibernate your home for the winter.
The first step to my process is to maintain my grass. If anyone knows me, they know that I love good grass care. Leading up to the winter, this is the first thing I plan on doing. I get out there to lime and put a fall fertilizer down. I love the Fall fertilizer as it does in fact hibernate your grass. From my knowledge, it’s a slow release of nutrients that provide a healthy environment under the coming months of snow. I have done this for a couple of years now, and in the Spring, I never regret it. The grass is so green!
After the grass is handled, we need to move on to those pesky leaves that keep falling all over that pristine yard of yours. Now, there are two arguments to this battle, but I tend to lean in the mulching of said leaves. You could also spend a good afternoon raking and putting the leaves into bags (make sure to plan this to be done on a compost week.
No one wants to sit on a million bags in the shed for 2 weeks). This is why I love mulching them. One, it takes less time to do. Two, it is my understanding that mulched leaves are better for nutrients for your grass. I don’t want to deprive my greenery of luscious nutrients! Don’t worry, they will mostly be gone by the time Spring rolls around.
After your final mow for the year, you should get your lawn mower ready to be stored away. If you use a gas mower like I do, you should either make sure you run the mower to the last drop of gas in the tank and stabilize the remaining gas in the Jerrycan. Electric mowers should have their battery removed so that it prolongs the battery lifespan.
Speaking of leaves, don’t forget to clean out your gutters on a yearly basis. This can be annoying work, but it is worth it in the long run. Clogged gutters can potentially cause more headaches for you down the road. I'm talking about potential water issues. If you don’t regularly clean your gutters, then the water will not flow in the appropriate manner, which could lead to ceiling and wall damage. Which in turn could result in mold, rot, and mildew. Clean those gutters people!!!
Good transition topic to water. If you live in an older house like I do, that means I need to take care of my external faucets around the house. You should take note to turn off the flow of water to all your external faucets. This is a preventative measure to ensure that your pipes that are leading back into the house don’t freeze (and in turn, rupture). Of course, this means not to forget to take in your watering hose (how will you water your beautiful grass if your hose breaks?).
Next on your list should be your gardening maintenance. I am unskilled in this matter,
but I would recommend doing this at the same time as you are taking care of your leaves. Make sure to cut (trim) back any flowers, hedges, or other plants that you have in your gardens that require you to do so. If you are like me, and don’t have a green thumb. Google should become your best friend at this time in need. I personally would not know which ones I need to cut back at this time of year if it wasn’t for good old google (yes, I admit it). The reason you should time this with you leaves is because you kill two birds with one stone on clean up. Again, mulching for me is the most productive because I can just take the lawn mower over the flower clippings.
Everyone gets a little mournful this time of year because the patio furniture must go away! Don’t forget to hibernate your deck furniture. Hopefully you have a shed or enough storage space somewhere to store all your stuff. This stuff is expensive, and you don’t want to ruin it.
Another item on the list (while you're at it) should be to vacuum (clean) out your dryer vent. I cannot stress the importance of a regular cleaning at this vent. If this goes untreated, it will eventually clog up and potentially could start a house fire. Please clean your dryer vent!
Moving on to the inside of your home, make sure that all your windows are correctly caulked and sealed to prevent any heat from escaping. We all know the price of heating our home is expensive, so don’twaste your hard-earned money on heating the outside.
Heat is very expensive and valuable, so make sure your furnace is in tip top shape. This time of year, you should make sure to get a technician in to have your furnace’s yearly maintenance done. Of course, this is a preventative measure to prolong the life of your furnace and future headaches.
While down in the basement, you should winterize your sump pump as well. Sump pumps still has to work in the winter as snow does melt (captain obvious here). The focus of winterizing your sump pump should be to disconnect any extension hose that are attached to your discharge hose. This will prevent them from freezing up and causing issues in your basement.
The next step would be to increase your heat sources. If you can afford them, I would highly recommend heat pumps to be installed in your house. I just installed mine this summer and I can’t stress how much better the quality of life in the home is. Before, in the summer, we were sweating bullets and now, with the air conditioning, we didn’t even notice how hot it was until we were outside. Same goes for the heating aspect. My friends give me the gears because I love to keep a cool house. I only had cast iron radiators (which I love and think the world of, they keep so much heat), but keeping it cool reduced the amount of expensive oil we consumed. This is the first year for our heat pumps and I'm super interested in seeing the oil /electricity bills.
Nova Scotia also has great grants and programs to help install more heat pumps within the province. I would highly recommend looking into them. I have attached one of the programs I just mentioned. Of course, I recommend doing your own research.
https://www.efficiencyns.ca/residential/products-rebates/heating-cooling/heat-pumps/
Another way to save energy and money would be to get a programmable thermostat. Who likes coming home after a long workday to a cold house? Not me! That’s why we have a programmable thermostat that we can either turn on while we are driving home or have it timed to turn up the heat at certain time. I think they are nifty!
Now that your home is tucked away and ready for winter, sit back with a nice hot cup of your favorite beverage. Relax and enjoy the Holiday season that is quickly approaching!
Oh wow, you made it to the end! I’m super proud of you for reading this exciting and knowledge packed blog post. I would love to know if I missed any other items, and what do you do to “hibernate” your home?
