5 Quick Tips For Your Home This Winter:
Check The Guttering
It is a good idea to check your guttering. Inspect it carefully and look out for cracks or breaks. The best time to check for these is when it is raining, don a waterproof and take a walk around your home ensuring the guttering isn’t leaking. Continuous water flow on the wrong area can do quite a bit of damage to your property if these issues are not caught and rectified relatively early. It is also important to check the gutters are free from debris if it is safe to do so.
Check Roof Tiles
Another item to add to your Winter preparation list is to check your roof tiles. These are an important part of your home and if you have a broken tile, it may not be apparent immediately but will cause quite a bit of damage. Make sure that there are no cracks, broken or slipped tiles. You can spot any potential issues with a visual inspection externally to see if any tiles have moved and internally via the loft. Pop into the loft if possible and look for any daylight that is showing, make sure you are in a safe and stable position before extinguishing your light source. Take a slow look around, any daylight peeping through will be a tell tale sign you have an issue.
Check your Pipes
Pipes are susceptible to bursting in the cold weather usually when the water in them freezes. You won’t know about this until the water thaws out, but by then you will potentially have a spectacular leak. Check all your pipes in the loft and that external pipes and taps are properly lagged to prevent this from happening.
Boiler Preparation
You may not have used your boiler for heating over the summer months and the last thing you need is for it to breakdown in the dead of winter. Fire up your boiler before the really cold weather hits to make sure that it is working properly, especially the heating. It is better to call out a plumber now rather than in the middle of winter when it is cold and typically plumbers are very busy. It might even be worth having your boiler serviced and your heating system flushed out to ensure it is in the best possible condition before the colder weather arrives.
Neighbours
It is also important to check adjoining properties for any of the above issues as they can affect your property as well. And it is even more important to check on any elderly and/or vulnerable neighbours at this time especially if there is ice/snow outside.
Please undertake any of the above in safe conditions. All inspections should be carried out safely and are done at your own risk.
