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It’s December in Michigan.  This mean lots of Holiday celebrations, family get togethers and office parties.  It also means Michigan weather, while we have been lucky so far this year, we all know it is coming.  Here are a few tips to prepare your home for the upcoming winter.

• Prepare for bad weather. If you get snow and ice, stock up on salt and shovels ASAP. You’ll want to be prepared to keep your walkways clean before the first storm hits. Keeping the areas around your house walkable helps prevent slip-and-fall injuries.
• Check your home’s seals. While home insurance covers some types of water damage, you still want to make it harder for water to creep into your house by keeping your gutters clean and sealing any cracks along windows, walls, and doors. When temperatures drop, even a little water in a crack can cause problems: as it freezes, it expands, which means more room for water to get inside and do damage.
• Protect your pipes. Freezing temperatures can also damage your pipes. Luckily, there are several ways to keep pipes from freezing, including insulation and heating tape.
• Clean your chimney. If you have a fireplace or wood-burning stove, be sure to clean your chimney at least once per year. The buildup of substances like creosote (which can be removed with regular cleaning) contributes to 25% of heating-related fires  .
• Follow other fire safety protocols. Keep your home fireplace or wood stove safe by clearing the area around it, and be sure to soak the hot ashes in water and store them in a metal container after you clean. Also, don’t burn cardboard or trash in your fireplace or wood stove.
• Keep flammable objects away from heat sources. As with candles, keeping stuff at least three feet away from heat sources (including space heaters, which cause 43% of home heating fires) can prevent fires.

Wishing you a happy, warm, and safe holiday season.

Evduza Ramaj

Inside Realty