This is the time to help prevent both a house cold and a cold house

This is the time to help prevent both a house cold and a cold house | RE/MAX Virginia

It is that time of year when the weather changes. We are now in the middle of the fall season and it is beautiful outside, but the cold front will soon start coming down from Canada. For a majority of cities in the United States it is not cold yet but it is on the way soon. Now is the time to perform a check of your home. Is it ready to withstand the cold temperatures?

For most of the homes here in the Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Hampton, Newport News, Suffolk and the surrounding area, we do not have basements! Our homes are usually bilt on a slab or crawl space. Having said that, there are two things we need to look out for:

1. Preventing damage to the home and
2. Keeping our heating bills low

Now is the perfect time to find a pleasant day to walk around and inspect your home. Here are a few tips:

1. Check and clean out your gutters so that rain water will not get stuck and freeze
2. Check your seals around windows and doors
3. Ensure your pipes have insulation
4. Can your crawl space vents be closed (if you have a crawl space)
5. Have your heating system serviced (there is a wait time for emergency services in times of high heat and freezing cold weather)
6. Check to see if your attic has enough insulation. It may not cost as much as you think to add it.
7. Winterize any irrigation systems to prevent damage.
8. If you have a fireplace, when was the last time you had it inspected or cleaned? Can you close off your flu?
9. If your water heater is exposed to colder temps get those pipes insulated and perhaps a “water heater blanket”.
10. Lastly, remember to check your smoke and monoxide detectors!

Having a well-insulated home with proper seals and weather strips will help prevent drafts, damage and lower heating bills. Another great side effect is that it will improve your mood on those cold days and nights! If you find things that need to be done or purchased and can wait a bit, make a list and wait for those holiday sales. If not, you can plan accordingly.

As a real estate professional, I try to help as many people as possible to make wise decisions when buying or sellng a home as well as ideas on maintaining their home. This is most important when the home is vacant for a prolonged time. Home maintanence and improvements increase the value of a home.  If your heating and cooling bills are already low keep copies of those bills and I will make those copies available to home buyers when I list your home for sale. That will raise the value of your home and perhaps give your home an edge over another!

If you have any questions please give me Carlos Cardo a call at 757-971-3574 or email: Carlos@CarlosCardo.com and I will do my best to help.  I highly advise you not to wait until it is cold to perform an evaluation of your home’s condition.

An important part of my Real Estate Web Site: www.CarlosCardo.com is my blog. I try to have timely information and discussions on real estate related topics that will help home owners, home buyers and home sellers with their current and future investments.

Have a question or idea for a topic on my blog email me at: Carlos@CarlosCardo.com