Home Maintenance Checklist for Fall and Winter
General guidelines for keeping your home warm and efficient:
- Have a qualified HVAC professional inspect your home’s ducts and cooling equipment.
- Set your thermostat to 68°F when you’re at home and awake, and as low as 60°F when you’re asleep or awake.
- Clean or replace furnace filters every month.
- Clean chimney and check to see if your fireplace is working properly.
- Seal air leaks in the attic, basement and crawlspace, and also around windows and doors.
- Insulate inside of windows with heavy-duty, clear plastic sheets.
- Check your attic for proper insulation. (The U.S. Department of Energy suggests a value between R-22 and R-49.)
- Close curtains or shades at night and keep them open during the day
- Clean windows on the south side of your house to maximize sunlight exposure.
- Weather-strip doors that lead to cold or outside areas.
- Wrap and insulate waterlines to prevent them from freezing.
- Repair leaky faucets.
- Install a programmable thermostat, so you can preset temperatures for different times of the day.
- Insulate the water tank and first six feet of hot and cold water pipes connected to the unit.
- Lower the temperature of your water heater to 120°F (for every 10-degree decrease in temperature, you may save 3% - 5% on your energy costs).
- Install rubber gaskets behind outlets and use switch plates on exterior walls.
- Install low-flow showerheads.
- When adjusting clocks, change batteries in smoke alarms, as well as radon and carbon monoxide detectors.
- Consider a ventilation system to increase air circulation inside and add a healthy dose of fresh air.
- Clean water-damaged carpets and materials, or consider replacement.
- Reduce the potential for buildup of allergy-causing pollutants by keeping your house clean
- Take special precaution when operating fuel-burning appliances to avoid leakage.
- Store and dispose of household chemicals in a safe manner.
