Making Sure Your Home Is Ready For The Change Of Seasons
2022-09-26
By: Advocate Brokerage
The kids are back in school, pumpkin lattes have made their debut and the first day of fall has come and went which means the time is right to get your home prepared to make it through the Fall Season claim free.
Get Your Home Fall-Ready By Heading Outside And…
- Clean your gutters, exterior drains, and downspouts. The goal is to make sure all water is flowing AWAY from your home.
- Repair any cracks or loose stones in walkways around your home.
- Take a look at lighting around walkways to make sure they are in working order to prevent the risk of slips, trips or falls.
- Make repairs to steps or railings leading into and out of your home. You want to ensure the safety of any visitors before the first frost of the year comes our way.
- Trim (or hire a professional) any tree branches near your home that look dead, weak, or damaged. Strong winds can cause weak branches to break resulting in major damage.
- Replace damaged weather stripping and if necessary, re-caulk around doors and windows.
- As soon as you hear about the first frost of the year, turn off outdoor sprinkler systems and drain outdoor faucets, then shut off and cover outdoor faucets to protect the pipes from freezing.
While Inside Tips To Get Your Home Fall-Ready ….
- Schedule service for all heating equipment such as your furnace, water heater, and generator. You don’t want to wait until you need them to find out there are issues.
- Schedule an appointment to have your chimney cleaned and inspected before using your fireplace.
- Replace the air filters in all your HVAC equipment including your humidifier.
- Test your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. If they are battery-operated, be sure to change them. We strongly recommend that you have a central station fire and burglar alarm installed in your home; it’s a great time to get this important protection in place.
- Make sure you have a fully charged fire extinguisher on every floor of your home.
- Clean your dryer of lint. Dryer lint is one of the leading causes of house fires, so making sure your dryer is free of as much lint as possible is important.
- Check the drip pans under any appliance that uses water. If they are cracked, damaged or if you don’t have one, now is a great time to have it replaced or installed. Drip Pans can be installed under water-producing appliances to catch leaks including your water heater, AC, dishwasher or washing machine.
- Check for any cracks in your dishwasher or washing machine hose. If they are more than 5 years old, you should have them replaced. We would also suggest that you consider upgrading them to reinforced steel-braided hoses.
Educating each client by providing valuable information to you is important to the team at Advocate Brokerage! We are here to help serve you, our clients with questions regarding your home, auto, or commercial insurance and helping you through the claims process. After all, it’s about more than insurance, It’s about you!
