A DIY Checklist of Winterizing the Exterior of your Home - Snow Tasks

The cold winter season brings destructive snow, ice and freezing temperatures to homeowners in the Snow Belt states each year and proper preparation is essential. There are numerous tasks that you, the homeowner, can do to protect and prepare the exterior of your home before winter sets in.

To keep the cost of heating your home down this winter, it is essential to keep it well insulted and sealed. Heat can be lost through cracks, damaged siding, drafty doors and leaky windows. To ensure your home stays energy efficient throughout the winter, do a thorough inspection of the exterior, and use caulking and weather stripping to close up any holes or gaps that might let cold air in and warm air out.

Clean up your Outdoor space

Now is also a great time to clean up and store your outdoor lawn tools and equipment, patio furniture and garden hoses. Along with emptying your garden hoses of left over water, you'll also need to shut off the water valves of exterior faucets, so the pipes don't freeze. Additional tasks can include cleaning the gutters and cutting tree branches away from power lines, the roof and driveway to reduce downed trees due to heavy snow and ice.

Buy or maintain snow removal equipment

Once you've completed these tasks, it's time to buy or maintain snow removal equipment for the upcoming winter months. A high quality snow blower or a snow plow can make snow removal an easy do-it-yourself project all winter long. There are several different snow plow options on the market today. We recommend you to check out our comprehensive list of snow plow manufacturers or ATV plow manufacturers depending on what kind of vehicle you are planning to use as a plow rig.