In the Garden
One of the first things that you’re going to want to do in the garden is to “deadhead” your plants. This is the removal of faded or dead flowers from plants, doing this will help your perennials to remain healthy and encourage better blooms.
Clear leaves from paths, a repetitive and laborious task, but leaves left where they fall can make your pathways quite treacherous as they become slippery as they degrade.
Next, clean and dry your garden furniture and move them into the garage or shed. If you have limited storage space, consider investing in garden furniture covers. Similarly, you will want to protect your BBQ from the colder weather and rain.
Ensure the children’s garden toys and bikes are put away after each use, left in all weathers, bicycle chains and brakes will rust and seize.
Finally check your shed. Is the structure sound? Is the roof felt watertight? It is better to set about repairing cracks and splits in the felt now rather than find the rain has been seeping in all 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. You will be surprised at the amount that can build up! It may be best to call a professional to do this, they will have specialist safety equipment and harnesses to enable them to reach your gutters safely
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 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’ve most likely not used your boiler for heating over the last few 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.
We hope you have found this article useful, a final word from us as we head into Winter, please watch out for elderly and vulnerable neighbours.
