Check your drainage
Make sure the soil around your foundation hasn’t settled, creating areas for water to pool at your foundation. If you find a low spot, simply fill it in with some soil. Then go around and check your rain gutter downspouts. Make sure water is getting moved away from the home. Add downspout extenders if necessary. Saturated soil around a foundation can create real problems as it freezes and thaws throughout the winter months.
Clean your gutters
Once the leaves are pretty much off the trees, it’s time to clean those gutters. When your gutters back up, they overflow, and when they overflow, that water runs down your home, speeding up the deterioration of your exterior. It can also lead to deterioration of your foundation, water infiltration in the basement and to settling under your concrete porches and walks, which creates all kinds of problems.
Clean your chimney + order firewood
Have your fireplace cleaned and inspected before you start building those cozy fires in the next couple of months. A good chimney sweep company will make sure the fireplace is safe to use, and it can also identify maintenance problems.
This is also the time to order firewood: stack and cover the wood in a good location in the yard. Make sure that old firewood isn’t rotten and move it away from your home.
Test your smoke + carbon monoxide detectors
Winter is the time most house fires happen. It’s the time of year when we’re blasting the furnace and building fires. We are also much more likely to have our home closed up tight, so carbon monoxide is a much bigger hazard. Check all of your smoke detectors to make sure they are working and that they have good batteries. If your home is not equipped with carbon monoxide detectors, consider getting some. The HVAC inspection will also ensure your furnace and water heater are properly vented, which is the most likely source of carbon monoxide.
Shut down the pool + the sprinkler system and drain outside faucets
Make sure your pool and sprinkler systems are properly shut down and prepare the system for winter. Most sprinkler systems require the lines to be blown out. A professional winterizing for both of these things is way cheaper than replacing a bunch of broken lines or a busted pool next spring.
Your outside water faucet is completely unprotected from the elements. It will freeze over the winter, and can split the water line well inside the home, flooding the basement. Shut off the water valve to your outside spigot, then go outside and open the exterior spigot valve and let the water drain out of the line. You don’t have to get every drop out. Now if the water in there freezes, it has plenty of room to expand without breaking pipes or seals. Leave the water shut off to the faucet until you need to use the hose next spring.
Prepare your lawn for winter + set it up for a great spring
If you want that beautiful spring lawn, you have to give it attention in the fall. New grass does not grow when it’s too hot or too cold. If you want new grass to grow, you really only have September and October, then April and May to do it. If you neglect the fall, then you’ve cut your time in half. In late September or early October, aerate the lawn and overseed it. Then in late October or November, apply fertilizer with winterizer.
Check your trees
Before all of the leaves fall, take a look at your trees and make sure they’re still healthy, especially trees that could fall on your home or a neighbor’s home. Don’t think a dying tree will be obvious. Sometimes you really won’t notice, especially if you have a lot of trees. Fall isn’t the best time to trim your trees, but if there are branches up against your house, it’s a good idea to trim them away before winter so you don’t have ice-coated branches against your siding or windows.
Make sure your attic doesn’t become a critter hotel
It’s going to get cold out and your attic is the perfect winter home for squirrels and birds. These critters can cause a lot of damage and potentially some heath problems. Make sure your trees are trimmed well away from the house, and make sure your gable vents are intact. It’s a good idea to tack a screen up behind your gable vent just in case. Also walk around your home and look up at your soffit and fascia. Make sure there are no holes that will allow birds to get in.
