Home Maintenance Checklist for Fall and Winter

!±8± Home Maintenance Checklist for Fall and Winter

This morning, we were surprised to find seven inches of fresh snow. It is much too early for all of this, and my heart rate is still coming down from the struggle of finding hats, snowpants, and matching mittens for each of my children before sending them out the door for school. As much as I would like to deny it, winter is on its way.

Here is a checklist of fall and winter home maintenance tasks to prepare your home (and your family) for the colder temperatures ahead.

Outdoors:

Scrape peeling paint, and apply touch up paint to your siding, trim, and fences.

Check the condition of your deck and apply a waterproofing sealer if necessary.

Check weatherstripping on doors. Repair.

Check caulk on windows. Repair.

Clean and store patio furniture.

Clean and store bicycles, tricycles, and outdoor toys.

Wash all windows, inside and out.

Remove, clean, and store summertime screens.

Install storm windows and doors.

Check roof for damaged or missing shingles or problems with flashing. Repair.

Clear gutters and inspect downspouts.

Check sidewalks and driveways for cracks or other damage. Repair.

Locate your snow removal tools: snow shovel, plows, and snow blowers. Make sure they are ready to go.

Lawn and Garden:

Blow out sprinkler systems and winterize or insulate exterior faucets and water lines.

Drain and store garden hoses.

Fertilize and reseed your lawn.

Prune trees and shrubs.

Remove annuals.

Cut back perennials.

Rake leaves.

Indoors:

Schedule a cleaning and inspection of your heating system.

Inspect your fireplace and chimney. Call a professional chimney sweep if necessary.

Perform seasonal maintenance on your hot water heater.

Schedule a professional carpet cleaning.

Clean and inspect dryer hoses and exterior dryer vents.

Change furnace filter, and plan to change your filter every month during the winter. Monthly filter changes can really help reduce energy costs.

Check your air ducts. Call a duct cleaning service if it has been a few years since your ducts have been professionally cleaned. If you have been changing your furnace filter frequently and your ducts have been cleaned recently, simply take off the register covers and vacuum inside.

Switch to warmer bedding. Replace cotton sheets with flannels. Add warmer layers to beds.

Make sure your family members are outfitted with everything they need for the cold winter months: Gloves, hats, boots, snowpants, warm socks, and coats.

Check the batteries in your carbon monoxide detectors and smoke detectors.

Check your fire extinguishers.

Talk about family safety plans and escape routes. Review your "meeting place" in the event of a home fire to ensure that everyone knows what to do and where to go.

Inspect your attic to make sure it is getting cool, fresh air and that there is no evidence of condensation.

Check attic fans.

Prepare your home for a power outage. Check the batteries in your flashlights and make sure they are easily accessible. Also, make sure to have a supply of nonperishable foods, a manual can opener, and a traditional corded phone or cell phone available.

Automobile:

Make sure your tires are adequate for the winter weather in your area.

Check your car battery.

Check antifreeze levels.

Make sure you have extra windshield wiper fluid in your car, as well as a brush and ice scraper, blanket, jumper cables, and first aid kit. If you live in an area where you expect extreme winter conditions, you will also want to keep a tow rope, shovel, and a bag of sand or kitty litter to help your tires gain traction on icy roads.

Home Maintenance Checklist for Fall and Winter

Wholesale Electric Tree Trimming Saw Blu Ray Ray Ideas

Installing Irrigation Valve Drains

!±8± Installing Irrigation Valve Drains

Okay, it’s time to put our drains in. Each year, most people want to put some sort of winterizing drain so that they don’t leave their system water filled over the winter. In this particular case, we’re going to put in some automatic drain. There’s pluses and negativities to automatic drains versus manual drains, but we’re going to let ours drain automatically. So, I’m going to cut each valve after the valve. I’m going to cut the line and I’m going to put in a 1 inch to a � inch, female T. Of course, just like any other PVC fitting, you just want to clean your pipe real good and then glue it well. So that’sa 1 inch to a � inch female, because that is what our automatic drains fit into. You can get these at any Lowe’s or irrigation supply places, just a pressure drain that close off when the system is pressurized and they release when the system releases its pressure and they allow the system to drain. So you just stick one of these in. You don’t want to put them facing up. You generally want to put them in either facing down or sideways so that the water will be able to drain according to gravity. You also want to put them in the lowest part of the system. It just so happens that the lowest part of our system is in the valve box. The valve box is low. So now we’re going to go ahead and install our automatic drain valves. You can replace this with a manual valve. You can do it the same way ...

Installing Irrigation Valve Drains

Sealy Latex Mattress Right Now

Types of Bamboo Fencing

!±8± Types of Bamboo Fencing

There are a lot of different styles of bamboo fencing, and choosing the right one for your back yard depends on your taste and the kind of décor you're looking to achieve. Almost all commercially available bamboo fencing will come in either rolls or panels. The most common kind will be made of long poles with a diameter of approximately 1" or of thinner canes about ½" in diameter. These poles or canes will be held together by heavy-duty galvanized wire.

This kind of framework, rolls and panels come in woven bamboo also. These consist of smaller canes held (usually also by wire) in bundles. Another style of bamboo fencing is called split bamboo fencing, made of the outer half of the bamboo cane and held together by wire. Bamboo fencing made of woven or split bamboo, however does not last as long as fencing made of sturdier poles or canes.

Now, these are just the basic styles of bamboo fencing, the ones most commonly available commercially. But bamboo fences have been fundamental components of Asian and Asian style courtyards and gardens for hundreds of years. There is a plethora of more specific styles, some which are simple and some which can be enormously intricate. Here are a few popular ones that come from the Japanese architectural tradition. All of them use a dark twine called shuro nawa to hold small bamboo poles together.

Misu - This is a kind of screening fence that uses horizontal bamboo poles like slats, installed on a vertical support structure of posts on either side of the fence.

Kenninji - This style is a classic screening fence style with no gaps between panels or poles. The bamboo panels are supported by half-round rails attached with dark twine.

Twig fence - This is a much less traditional and simple bamboo fencing style. It is basically bundles of bamboo twigs attached to horizontal or vertical support posts. A casual, tropical look.

Yotsume - Yotsume is an open-style fence consisting of broad horizontal rails supported by pickets. Its surface appearance shifts depending on the angle from which you look at it.

Royanji - This is a shorter fence suited especially for gardens. It consists of a lattice of narrow bamboo shoots connected to top and bottom rails, which are supported by posts on either side of the fence.

Types of Bamboo Fencing

Buy Mcculloch Electric Chain Saw Parts