Preparing Your Home For Winter: Home Maintenance Checklist

With winter close to setting in, now’s the time to begin prepping your home through seasonal maintenance.

Recently on the Tiles Direct blog, we covered how to achieve the winter aesthetic. But, winter home maintenance is also necessary to uphold practicality in interiors and exteriors through the colder season. 

From broken boilers to frozen pipes, improper home maintenance can come back to haunt you during the winter – nobody wants a cold home. Slack winter home maintenance can also cost you more money from inefficient heating to costly part replacements – nobody needs this around the holiday season. 

So, put some good ol’ winter home maintenance at the top of your agenda in the next few weeks. Preparing your home for winter is no small task, so it’s often worth blocking off a full day in your schedule to get it done right.

Luckily, we’ve compiled some winter home maintenance tips in this handy winter home maintenance checklist, to make sure your home’s functionality and style are harmonious this season.

Winter home maintenance checklist: inside the home

Let’s start with your home interior and your home’s functional features and appliances.

Prep your boiler 

Boiler breakage is the ultimate winter inconvenience for you and your family. 

Annual boiler servicing is often advised, not just for function, but for your system’s warranty, too. A boiler service involves a professional engineer inspecting and cleaning your boiler system, preventing blockages and ensuring all compliances are working suitably. 

This will give you complete peace of mind that your boiler is working tickety-boo as winter sets in – the best way to start your winter home maintenance.

Check your boiler pressure 

Be sure to check in on your boiler pressure, as well. 

If your boiler pressure gets too low, it can affect the heating efficiency of your system. 

It’s best to aim for a level of 1-1.5, preferably towards the lower end of the range to accommodate a slight rise in pressure once your system begins to heat. 

Bleed your radiators

Air can get trapped in even the most reliable of radiators, preventing warm water from circulating around them as effectively. 

This means it takes longer for radiators to heat your rooms – don’t let it happen to you this winter.

To bleed your radiators, you’ll need a radiator key and a cloth or towel:

1. Turn off your heating. This is a vital first step – if left on, you run the risk of hot water spraying from your radiator
2. Use the radiator key to turn the valve by attaching the key to the groove and twisting anti-clockwise until you hear a hissing sound
3. When the hissing stops (air leak) and there’s only water left leaking, retighten the valve and clean and leakage with your towel or cloth 
4. Check back in with your boiler pressure – bleeding radiators can cause your boiler pressure to drop. Remember: you want it between 1-1.5

Clean out your fireplace 

If you’re lucky enough to have a functioning fireplace and chimney in your home, it’s likely to get a lot more use this winter. 

With this in mind, don’t forget about your fireplace when performing your winter home maintenance. 

Start with a simple sweep of the fireplace and surrounding hearth to avoid any remnants of ash or dust. If you’ve used tiling for your hearth or surround, be sure to keep an eye out for pesky cracks, too!

Then, check the chimney. Pay close attention to any buildup of creosote and debris, such as leaves and nests. At worst, these can be dangerous hazards once the fire starts roaring. At best, you’re making it harder for the big man to visit on December 25th.

Conduct safety checks on alarms 

Regardless of whether you celebrate Christmas, winter is often a big season for socialising. And thanks to the weather, this almost exclusively happens inside the home.

So, before you start hosting parties, meals or simple get-togethers, make the safety of you and your guests a priority by checking your alarms. 

Perform a quick battery and response test on any smoke and carbon monoxide detectors – this winter home maintenance tip can quite literally be a lifesaver. 

Prevent frozen pipes

Water left standing in your pipes can freeze, causing your pipes to expand and, ultimately, burst. 

To prevent this, ease into warming your pipes at a gradual low temperature before blasting your heating on full. To do this most effectively, set your boiler on a regular timer when preparing your home for winter.  

If you suspect your pipes have already frozen, try pouring tepid water over the affected area (don’t use boiling water, this could cause further damage). 

Protect your entrance 

Winter often brings an influx in snow, ice, water and mud. More often than not, these manage to find a way into your entranceways – wet jackets and boots are often the culprits here!

So, ensure the entrances to your home are sufficiently protected by placing doormats on both the inside and outside of your doorways.

If your entranceway is tiled, these will also need to be properly protected against any exposure to outdoor elements brought in. To do this, check your tiles are suitably sealed and regularly cleaned as part of your winter home maintenance rota. 

Care for your flooring

Whether it’s from human boots or pet paws, even with a protected entranceway, winter has a habit of bringing plenty of moisture into the home.

If you have tiled flooring in porches, kitchens, bathrooms or hallways, you should be paying extra attention to it this winter. That’s because, if their surface or grout is cracked, moisture damage can occur, impacting both the function and aesthetic of your flooring. This can often be costly, too. 

Assessing the condition of any tiled flooring in your home is a lesser-known winter home maintenance tip, but one that can really save you hassle and money this season. 

So, keep tiled flooring spick and span by addressing any cracks or damage as a priority. 

Winter home maintenance checklist: outside the home

With your winter home maintenance complete inside, now’s the time to turn your attention outside. Here are some tips to get you started. 

Check the roof

Don’t fall victim to the unpredictability of British winter. 

Whack out the ladders or have an industry professional check your roofing is in order to prevent any nasty drafts and leakages this season.

Inspect outdoor lighting

When preparing your home for winter, outside lighting can often be overlooked. 

However, with shorter days and darker evenings, outdoor lighting can be integral to the safety of you, your family and your guests when leaving or arriving home. 

With this in mind, make sure all your outdoor lights are working properly, including those super-handy motion sensors.  

Protect patio furniture

We hate to break it to you, but you’re probably not getting much use out of the patio furniture this season. 

However, this doesn’t mean it should get left out of your winter home maintenance plan.

From ice to rust, keep patio furniture safe from the elements by covering it in a weather-resistant tarp. Alternatively, store it in the garage or shed, should your home have one. 

Keep on top of outdoor flooring  

While you’ll have no doubt made a sensible, functional choice in your outdoor flooring solution, even weather-proof materials like outdoor porcelain need a little TLC. 

This is particularly true if the colder weather leads to using grit or salt on any patios and paths. These grip solutions can often leave a mucky-looking residue on the surface of your outdoor flooring, even after a sweep. 

So, ensure you’re keeping on top of your outdoor flooring by incorporating a regular clean (with an appropriate cleaning agent) into your winter home maintenance routine. 

We hope this winter home maintenance checklist has provided some handy winter home maintenance tips you can start applying today. Remember: the sooner you start, the sooner your home will be looking and functioning at its best this season. 

Don’t forget to complement your winter home maintenance with some seasonal interior updates when preparing your home for winter – we’ve got ideas for everyone over on the Tiles Direct blog. Why not check it out today?