How To Winterize Your Home

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Story Published: Oct 9, 2008 at 5:21 PM MST

Story Updated: Dec 18, 2008 at 3:00 PM MST

By Anthony Congi

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IDAHO FALLS - It sure didn't seem fall lasted very long, but here comes winter and all of us need to prepare our homes to avoid future problems.

"It's better to do preventative maintenance instead of having to deal with with it later when the water's coming through your ceiling," says David Rocknak, owner of Rocknak's Hardware.

These can be done by even those who might not be the most handy. However, the store owner suggests the elderly should have some help; especially if you plan on going on your roof.

Weather strips, door sealers, air conditioner covers and insulation for your outdoor faucets and pipes are all very important to prevent damage from the cold.

Precautions you'll want to take largely depend on how old your house is.

"The older homes definitely need to have the pipe heating cable if they have a crawl space and not a basement. Anybody that has a lot of snow build up on their roof...mandatory would be the roof cable and of course extra precautions are adding some insulation around the pipe along with the pipe heating cable itself," explains Rocknak.

Houses settle over time and doors could become less square near the door jams. If you can see light coming through the jams, it needs to be covered with foam tape to keep the heat inside.

Some of the items can reach close to a $100, roof and gutter cables, around $50 and heating cables about $30.

All things considered, versus the alternative, it's relatively cheap to winterize your home.
"Very cheap," says Rocknak. "If you don't do it, the outcome could be very expensive. It's cheap insurance it might seem like a big expense at this time but it's going to be more expensive if you have to repair sheet rock and insulation."

One more tip and this actually comes from my grandma who was in the plumbing business for over 50 years. If you're leaving your house during the cold season, putting anti-freeze in your toilet and sink will prevent your pipes from freezing. Grandma Barbara swears by it.

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