Fall Maintenance in Dallas – How to Prep Your Home for Winter

The weather is mild, the rains have arrived, and fall is almost here – one of the most turbulent and also enjoyable seasons of the year. Now is the perfect time to start your fall maintenance and ensure your home is ready for the winter season. Here are some essential, simple maintenance tips from our team of specialists who can also sell your house for cash if you’re thinking of moving soon!

Preparing Your Yard

• Trim overgrown shrub and tree branches as well as dead limbs to prevent damage during storms and keep trees healthy and looking good.
• Cut your grass a bit shorter and less frequently to help reduce growth.
• Rake up fallen leaves to prevent them clogging your lawn and becoming a home to pests.
• If you have a wooden fence, now is the time to give it a good clean with a pressure washer. Make any repairs as needed and apply a high-quality weatherproof seal to protect it from the cold.
• Check your patio and deck for any areas that need repairs, including lose railings. Wash down with a pressure washer and apply a coat of weatherproofing if needed.
• Before the winter sets in, clean and store landscaping equipment and gardening tools. Add a fuel preservative to your gas powered equipment to ensure the gas does not spoil over the winter months. Clean off any rust, oil your tools and place them somewhere undercover in a shed or the garage.
• Check your storm windows and doors to make sure they are secure and clean.
• Repair any cracks in your sidewalk, paths or driveway. Small cracks can be repaired with acrylic latex concrete repair, while larger cracks can be repaired with a vinyl concrete patching compound. Cracks in asphalt can be repaired using a caulking gun and a rubberized asphalt emulsion crack filler.

Checking Your Roof

• Clean your gutters regularly (especially before a storm) to remove leaves and debris. Clogged gutters can quickly lead to roof damage, gutter damage, leaks and more.
• Inspect your roof for damage, lose shingles, damaged flashing and potential leaks. Having these repaired quickly will help prevent more extensive problems and will also help prevent pests and critters from using your roof space as a home through the winter.
• Inspect your roofing insulation to make sure it is the correct grade for your climate and is in good condition. If it is not installed correctly, it can trap water and cause mold growth, so always install insulation with the vapor barrier facing the living space.

Checking Your Home’s Exterior

• Inspect your home’s siding and foundation for any signs of damage, and get these repaired before the winter sets in.
• Seal any gaps into the interior of your home that can let in cold or critters, especially where pipes and vents are located.
• Check the condition of the weather stripping around your windows and doors. This will help reduce heating costs through the winter by eliminating drafts. Not sure if you need weather stripping? If you can slide a sheet of paper into the space between a door and the floor or a window and the wall, then you should apply weatherstripping.
• If you are thinking of painting your home or updating the exterior, the mild fall season is the perfect time to do it. Make sure all repairs to the exterior are completed, then repaint for a fresh look.
• Put weather stripping on your garage door to create a snug fit and prevent drafts.

Preparing the Inside of Your Home

• Clean or replace filters in your furnace to improve performance and efficiency.
• If you aren’t into DIY HVAC cleaning, have a professional maintenance team come in and inspect, clean and repair your heating system for the winter. This is important not only to ensure good performance and reliability over winter, but for home safety purposes too.
• If you have a fireplace, schedule a professional cleaning and inspection. Make sure the insert’s door gasket has a tight seal and that the chimney cap is in place to prevent birds and critters from nesting in the chimney.
• If you have ceiling fans, change the direction of the fan to a clockwise rotation to create an upward draft to redistribute heat through the home.
• Test all smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, changing batteries where needed. You should have a carbon monoxide detector on every level of your house as well as close to your furnace.

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