Fall Home Maintenance: The October List That Prevents January Disasters

Winter finds every weakness your house has. The draft you ignored all summer. The hose you left connected. The furnace you never serviced. A burst pipe in January costs thousands. A dead furnace on the coldest night costs emergency rates and a freezing house. Every bit of it was preventable in October.

Service the heating now

Book the furnace service in October, before the techs are slammed and charging emergency rates. Stock up on filters while you are at it. A clean filter and a serviced system heading into winter is the cheapest insurance you own.

Shut off outdoor water

Disconnect every hose. Shut off the outdoor spigots from the inside valve and drain the line. A hose left connected traps water in the pipe, the pipe freezes, and it bursts inside your wall. This one mistake floods more homes every winter than almost anything else.

Insulate exposed pipes

Any water pipe in an unheated space, crawlspace, garage, or exterior wall gets foam insulation sleeves. They cost a few dollars and take minutes to install. Pipes that have frozen before will freeze again.

Find the drafts

Light a candle and walk it slowly around every window and door on a windy day. Where the flame flickers, air is getting in. Weatherstrip and caulk are cheap. Heating the neighborhood is not.

Clean the gutters

Wait until most of the leaves are down, then clean them once, properly. Clogged gutters overflow, and overflow water ends up against your foundation or freezing into ice dams at the roof edge.

Quick roof check

From the ground with binoculars: missing shingles, lifted flashing around chimneys and vents, piles of granules in the gutters. Fall is the time to find it. Winter is the time it finds you.