If you’ve lived in Austin for a while, you've felt our harsh winters. To prepare for the absolute worst weather conditions, the Pauly Presley Realty team has prepared a couple provisions for you on how to winterize a house to help you literally weather the storm.
1. Prepare a list.
Murphy's Law states that, "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” Unfortunately, this definitely applies to home maintenance. During rough winter weather, you might walk through your hallway one day and the next a fallen tree may suddenly greet you before your morning coffee. To prevent this, sit down for at least an hour and focus only on all the things that go wrong. Chances are that these things probably won't happen, but it's better to be prepared for anything instead of trying to repair everything.
2. Look at your finances.
It's one thing to make the ultimate list of winterizing your home. However, once you sit down and budget, that $20,000 snowblower that can clear your driveway in six seconds isn’t looking so good. While it's amazing to have a game plan, don't be afraid to adjust. That way, your preparations can be safe, secure, and cheap.
3. Make sure your trees aren’t “going rogue."
Now that we’ve talked planning, let's talk doing. When severe weather seasons arrive, take a look at the trees in your yard. If you have a branch scraping a window every time a gust of wind happens, its time to start trimming. Assess the size of your tree, its branches, and keep your trees nice and trim. This keeps you in control of your trees before they get out of control later.
4. Keep water running on cold nights.
The last thing you want is dealing with burst and frozen pipes. While it might seem wasteful, keeping a small, steady stream of water running through all of your faucets on cold nights is the best thing for your plumbing. By doing this small act, this prevents water from freezing and keeps it constantly moving. It takes time for cold weather to affect the physical state of water, so if water doesn’t have time to sit and lose heat, it will stay in its lovely liquid state.