Fall Home Maintenance Tips

Begrudgingly, we must admit that the long sumer days are coming to an end and fall is almost upon us. To many this means, the end of lawn care and other outdoor home duties. A welcome reprieve from home owner maintenance responsiblilities? Not exactly. It’s time to prepare your home for cold weather!

If you are a new home owner, fall home maintenance may be something your landlord used to handle. If you are a seasoned home owner – you still may appreciate a few reminder tips that will help you lower your utility bills and protect your investment. For your convenience, we have compiled a few home maintenance tips to help you prepare for the upcoming winter:

Fall Home Maintenance Tips

  • Tune Up Your Heating System – Invite your friendly HVAC technician over to inspect your furnace or heat pump. He will ensure that your system is clean and in good repair. Preventive maintenance on your heating system will minimize the chance that you will have a furnace failure during one of the winter’s coldest days.
  • Reverse Your Ceiling Fans – Hot air rises. If you you reverse your ceiling fan (if possible) the fan will produce an updraft and push heated air from the ceiling down into the room. This will be especially helpful in rooms with high ceilings.
  • Check Your Attic & Roof – Air leaks and other areas of inadequate insulation will cause excess ice to accumulate on your roof – leading to ice dams. Ice dams can lead to melting water backing up and flowing into your home. Also be sure to visually inspect your roof for missing or loose shingles that may leak during storms or when snow melts.
  • Gut the Gutters & Divert Spouts  – Although the leaves have yet to begin accumulating – make sure you clean your gutters out as leaves pile up. Full gutters cause water to back up against the house damaging roofing, siding, and wood trim. Divert downspouts so that water runs at least 3 to 4 feet away from your foundation.
  • Turn off Outdoor Faucets – Disconnect garden hoses and drain water from your exterior faucets and irrigation systems  – then turn off the shut-off valve inside your home. Water in pipes can freeze and cause the pipes to burst as ice expands.
  • Mulch Instead Not Rake – Experts say that if you mulch your leaves while dry into dime sized pieces, instead of raking, the decomposing leaves with nourish your lawn over the winter.

We hope the these few tips help you to keep your home in good repair through the upcoming winter. If you have additional tips or comments on maintaining your home throught he winter – visit us on Facebook!

Inlanta Mortgage offers Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac agency products,  as well as a full suite of jumbo and portfolio programs. The company is  fully delegated HUD-FHA including FHA 203K, VA, and USDA approved.  Inlanta Mortgage also offers numerous state bond agency programs. Review Inlanta’s mortgage loan programs here.

Inlanta Mortgage is a multi-state mortgage banker based out of Brookfield, Wisconsin. NMLS# 1016. Inlanta Mortgage is proud to be a recent recipient of a 2012 Top Workplace Award.

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