10 Tasks to Prepare For Winter in Cache Valley

<h2>Fall Is Here, Winter Is Coming</h2> Fall is officially here in Cache Valley. The days are getting shorter and colder. Soon, the leaves will start changing color and fall off, and Adrien STILL hasn’t returned your leaf blower, the jerk! But it’s not just leaves that you have to deal with.  To help you prepare for winter, there are some things you should start doing now, and some things you should be planning for. <h3>Prepare For Winter</h3> <h4>1. Tune Up Your Furnace</h4> Scientists are skeptical about us getting <a href="https://www.parkrecord.com/2024/09/10/utahs-long-range-winter-forecast-leaves-experts-skeptical-about-another-historic-season/">another record breaking winter this year</a>, but that doesn’t mean it won’t get cold. It may not break records, but we still usually get at least two months of pretty serious cold and that’s no fun if your HVAC isn’t up to it. The first thing you’ll want to do to prepare for winter according to Mountain Valley HVAC is <a href="https://mtnvalleyhvac.com/hvac-maintenance-logan-ut">tune up the furnace</a>. You’ll want to be sure that it runs at peak condition. Without proper maintenance, it becomes steadily less efficient, resulting in needing to use more energy to get the same results. Not only does this mean your house gets warm slower and cools down faster, but you’ll see your energy bill go up as you try to do it. Nobody wants that, right? <h4><img class="size-medium wp-image-310 alignright" src="https://cachevalleylocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/before-after-300x138.png" alt="Before and after duct cleaning" width="300" height="138" />2. Clear Up Your Air Ducts</h4> Once you’ve got the furnace checked on, you’ll want to make sure that the air ducts it uses are also clean. This one is easy to forget about, since you don’t need to do it that often, only about every 3-5 years according to Easy Breezy Pros.  However, if you don’t do it, along with changing the filters on the vents on time, dust builds up inside. This chokes off the air flow, reducing the system’s efficiency, while also spreading dust, pollen, and pet dander around the house to <a href="https://easybreezypros.com/indoor-air-quality-matters/">play havoc on your breathing</a>. <h4>3. Check Around The House Proper Sealing and Insulation</h4> Once you’ve got your HVAC system in perfect condition, the next step is making sure that the hot air stays in and the cold air stays out. According to Energy.gov, this is one of the most cost-effective ways to <a href="https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/air-sealing-your-home">reduce energy consumption</a> on heating. Check all door and windows for air flow and use caulking and weatherstrips to seal them off. If you find any cracks, seal those as well. For very little cost and time, this can make a big difference in your energy bill and keep your home nice and toasty. Make sure the insulation is done properly, especially in your attic. If the attic isn’t uniformly insulated, the difference in temperatures can cause “<a href="https://extension.umn.edu/protecting-home-rain-and-ice/dealing-and-preventing-ice-dams">ice dams</a>”, which can damage your home and be a safety hazard to people walking under them. <h4><img class="size-full wp-image-313 alignleft" src="https://cachevalleylocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/gutter-cleaning.jpg" alt="prepare for winter by cleaning out your gutter" width="300" height="300" />4. Gutter Cleaning</h4> According to <a href="https://centerstreetwindows.com/new-services-page">Center Street Windows</a>, not cleaning out your gutters will lead to a lot of serious problems. If the gutters clog, water will leak out onto the roof and the ground below. On the ground, it will freeze into ice that you could slip on. If it stays on your roof, the freezing could damage your roof and cause leaks. <h4>5. Drain Water Away From The House</h4> Speaking of gutters, make sure your gutters drain the water away from the house. Ice all over your sidewalk is dangerous. People are injured every year, sometimes fatally, from little slips and falls. Making sure you have enough salt is good, but arranging your gutters so water drains away from the house is a much better solution. You can also get some grading done for your yard to improve drainage. <h4>6. Care For Your Plants</h4> Now that it’s getting cooler, you should plan to prune back any trees and shrubs you’ve got. Plan for it, but don’t start right away. It’s better to prune when it’s cool because the plants will suffer less of a shock from it. If you start too early, then unseasonably warm weather with subject the plants to diseases, so it’s best to wait a month or so to make sure it’s going to stay cool. While you’re at it, clean up overgrown vegetation around your yard. This will make room for healthier growth in the spring, while also reducing the risk of winter storms breaking of tree branches that could fall onto your house or car. If trees have grown up around power lines, you should also contact the power company and have them trim them back to prevent damage to the lines. Do not attempt to trim trees near power lines yourself. <h4><img class="size-medium wp-image-309 alignright" src="https://cachevalleylocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/sprinkler-winterization-300x213.jpg" alt="blow out your sprinklers so they don't freeze over winter" width="300" height="213" />7. Shut of External Pipes and Blow Out Your Sprinklers</h4> Water is unique in the way it expands when it gets cold. While this is essential for life, it does create a problem for your plumbing. Most of us will have our indoor pipes insulated, but what about your sprinklers? If there’s still water in them when the winter comes, it will freeze and your pipes may burst. You won’t even know until next spring, when the water starts flooding your yard. To prevent this, you’ll want to turn off the water in your external pipes and have them <a href="https://yardmasterservices.com/services/sprinklers/">blown out by a professional</a>. This will make sure that there’s nothing in there to freeze. <h4>8. Check Up On Your Winter Tools</h4> We mentioned the dangers of ice earlier. Even if water drains away from your house in your gutters, snow will still fall. As it does, that can compact into ice as quickly as overnight. You’ll want to make sure you have salt for your sidewalk when that happens. While you’re prepping, you should check on other winter tools. Do you have shovels ready? Did Adrien return your snowblower yet? And is it in good condition to do its job? If not, a little maintenance might be in order to get it doing its best job. You don’t want it to break down in the middle of a job, right? Of course not! If you aren’t the DIY type (or want to avoid the trouble caused by people who think they are) you can <a href="http://cacheappliancerepair.com/">hire appliance mechanic</a>s to help you out. <h4><img class="size-full wp-image-307 alignleft" src="https://cachevalleylocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/The-Fart-Fan.jpg" alt="clean dust from exhaust fans to reduce risk of fires" width="300" height="225" />9. Clean Exhaust Fans</h4> How long has it been since you checked the exhaust fans in your kitchen and bathroom? According to <a href="https://ditchthedirtcleaning.com/">Ditch The Dirt</a>, not cleaning them can lead to some serious problems. These fans build up a lot of dust and that can cause one of two major problems. First, if the dust gets moisture in it, it becomes a magnet for mold. If it takes root, it may release toxic spores that can cause serious health issues, or trigger allergies, depending on the type of mold. Once mold forms, it can be really hard to remove, sometimes requiring entire sections of wall or ceiling to be removed and replace. On the other hand, if the dust stays dry, the extra friction it creates on the moving parts will cause them to overheat. We’ve read reports of this starting fires in bathrooms and kitchens. To prevent this, clean the fans off and oil them up to reduce friction. [caption id="attachment_308" align="alignright" width="300"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-308" src="https://cachevalleylocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Creosote-300x203.png" alt="Mr. Creosote is fat and unpleasant" width="300" height="203" /> No, that's the wrong Creosote![/caption] <h4>10. Clean The Chimney</h4> If you have a chimney and fireplace that you still use to burn wood, you definitely want to clean it out before you use it. Chimneys are a common and easily preventable cause of house fires. The more wood you burn, the more a tar-like residue builds up inside. This residue is called “creosote” and it’s highly flammable. If you don’t clean it out, your whole chimney will go up in flames, not just the wood. <h3>Prepare For Winter Before It Comes</h3> Winter is still a few months away, but you don’t want to be leaving these chores until then. You want to prepare for winter before it starts to get cold so you don’t have to worry. Some of these may need the help of professionals to do them, in which case you’ll want to call them up and schedule ahead of time. You don’t want to wait until the last minute only to find the companies all booked up, right? And you definitely don’t wan to worry about doing them yourself out in the snow! So prepare for winter now so you can be nice and cozy when it finally comes. For businesses around Cache Valley, here are some more things to prepare for: <a href="https://cachevalleylocal.com/5-things-help-your-business-this-winter-in-logan-utah/">click here</a>