The winter between December and February can get excruciatingly cold in many regions of the U.S. For the most part, the temperature in most areas drops to an average of 33.2 degrees Fahrenheit, which is just above the freezing point.
Coupled with high annual snowfall in areas like Washington and Texas, winters can get troublesome if the proper measures aren’t taken. You must prepare well for the season and consider essential home improvements.
At the same time, the winter season is ideal for initiating a home improvement project to improve the outlook and comfort of your living space. Following are some important projects you should work on:
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Prepare well for a stormy weather
On the 17th of February, the winter storms in Texas left 21 people dead, with millions without power and closed roads. This year, you’ll have to be super careful as falling branches pose a serious threat to your home as well as people walking in the streets.
Secondly, check your windows and doors to ensure that your house is sealed because even minor gaps can allow the cold draft to come in, rendering your heating system useless.
Research shows that sealing leaks and gaps cut heating or cooling costs by 20%. You can fill any such leaks using caulk, weather-stripping measures, or spray foam.
While you’re protecting your house against expected blizzards, also remember to secure other stored items for the season.
As winters near us Texans, many household items, including summer clothes, need to be stored away.
Pro tip – using climate-controlled storage units to keep your stuff safe during the winters is an excellent idea. You can find such units by typing in corpus christi storage units on Google for more information.
Repaint your rooms
Interestingly, you can buy wall paints at the cheapest rates during fall and winter. Since fewer people are likely to take up this job in winters, professional painters have fewer clients, so they charge less.
The added benefit is that the paint will dry quicker and bond to the walls much better with less humidity in winters.
With the right kind of paint with low VOC, you won’t have to keep the windows open; simply turning on a fan for ventilation should get the job done nicely.
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Replace the flooring
Want to change the overall aesthetic of your home? The flooring is a great place to begin. If your house has a hardwood floor, walking barefoot will be challenging.
It is best to switch to a warmer alternative, like carpeted flooring, to maximize comfort. But, if carpeting doesn’t suit you, there are other choices too.
You could opt for Vinyl plank flooring that includes a well-insulated underlayment. Most also have an attached pad that gives additional warmth. Vinyl flooring appears as aesthetic as hardwood while being much easier to clean and warmer.
The best thing with this type of flooring is that you can even find water-proof variety for your bathroom.
Install a programmable thermostat
Technology has made life a lot easier than before, and programmable thermostats are additions you must consider for your home. This home appliance works by regulating temperatures inside the building according to the user’s customized settings.
Unlike traditional manual thermostats, this new technology lets you schedule temperatures for the day. For this feature, they are also called clock thermostats.
Unlike manual thermostats, Clock thermostats keep the same temperature unless the user manually changes the setting.
Research by Nest Labs shows that shifting to programmable thermostats allowed homeowners to cut down on heating costs by 10-12 percent.
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Weatherproof exposed pipes
As temperatures drop, pipes exposed to the cold climate pose a severe threat. Water pipes can burst when the water in them freezes and expands. When the frozen pipes defrost, water will gush out in gallons and cause severe damage to the walls or roof.
Leaking or weak pipes are at a greater risk of such hazards, so check all lines and repair them asap. To insulate them against the harsh weather, get insulation tubes to wrap or use electrical heating tape.
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Prepare your lawn for spring
Winter is the perfect season to deal with this part of your house. This season, mowing the lawn will ensure that it blooms with lush grass and vegetation, especially for bluegrass and Bermuda when spring comes.
It would help if you also took measures to ensure that your land is not barren in the cold and harsh winters. This can be done by seeding grass that thrives in winters for 6-8 weeks before it gets freezing.
Secondly, as winters near, your lawn is bound to be smothered by fallen autumn leaves that must be removed before snowfall. You can collect these leaves and use them for compost for maintaining soil nutrition during the dry winter season.
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Replace windows, doors, and cabinets
Research shows that windows, doors, and cabinets make up only 3% of the annual sales during December, and in January, just 4%.
We conclude one thing from these stats; you’ll get great deals on these three items. Upgrading these items is relatively inexpensive, and if done right, adds a lot of aesthetic appeal to your home.
Besides aesthetics, replacing windows and doors for winters is also a good idea because it will save energy costs.
Final words
Winters are bound to bring with them blizzards and rain, and it is best to be prepared to deal with such situations ahead of time. At the same time, winters are great for many home improvement projects.
With so much time spent indoors in this freezing season, why not make some upgrades? Especially since you can get much more reasonable offers on home renovation products and services at this time of the year.
With these upgrades, you can improve the overall aesthetic appeal of your home and make it more comfortable to live in.
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