Paul Hope of Consumer Reports shares tips on how you can get your home ready for the winter season, including how you can prevent bursting pipes as well as insulating your home from the cold air.
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00:00Paul Hope is Senior Home and Appliances Writer
00:02with Consumer Reports.
00:03Thanks so much for joining us, Paul.
00:05Happy to be here.
00:06All right, Paul, let's start inside.
00:09What should you do now to get your pipes
00:11ready for the colder weather and avoid
00:13any kind of water damage?
00:15So right now is the time that you really
00:17want to be looking for any of those pipes that run along
00:20exterior walls, especially.
00:23If you have any that are exposed,
00:24it's a great time to buy some pipe insulation at a home
00:27center or hardware store.
00:28Wrap it up, it'll cost you only a few cents a foot.
00:31And if it prevents a burst pipe, it
00:32could end up saving you thousands.
00:36Paul, how do you make your home more energy efficient?
00:45And what tips can you have to save some money
00:50and also keep your home more warm, I should say?
00:54Sure.
00:55So it really runs the gamut.
00:57At the really easy level, one of the cheapest things you can do
01:01is just look for draft guards, draft stops,
01:03and look to seal up any leaks in and around the home.
01:06Little things like a tube of caulk
01:08can seal up any loose gaps around windows and door frames.
01:11You can also buy those draft guards
01:13that you can install on the bottom of your door
01:15or even run underneath a front entry door
01:17to keep those drafts out.
01:18Those can really go a long way, and they're
01:20very easy, simple DIY fixes.
01:22At the higher end of things, you really
01:24want to maybe consider upgrading your insulation.
01:27The vast majority of the heat that escapes the house
01:29escapes through the ceiling or the attic crawl space.
01:33So that's a great place to start.
01:35Work your way down from there.
01:37Good tips.
01:37OK.
01:38How about the exterior from your roof, which you kind of mentioned,
01:41to the foundation?
01:42What can you do to get ready for this cold season?
01:45Absolutely.
01:45So this is really the time you want
01:47to find any issues with your roof
01:49and address them before they become
01:50a bigger problem in the winter.
01:51So an easy, no-brainer thing to do
01:54is make sure that you clean your gutter pipes out
01:56one final time after the leaves have fallen.
01:58That'll help you avoid ice dams over the winter.
02:00But it's also a great time to just look,
02:02even using a pair of binoculars from across the street.
02:05Look for any loose, damaged, or missing shingles
02:07on your roof line.
02:08Look for any cracks along areas where maybe pipes exit the roof.
02:13If you're unsure, you can hire a licensed roofing company
02:17to do an inspection that's a little bit more thorough.
02:19But fixing those things now will really
02:21help you avoid any costly repairs during the winter.