Preparing for Winter's Cold

Winter is just around the corner in Pennsylvania and homeowners shouldn't wait until the snow flies to prepare for colder weather. As Autumn clean up gets underway, look for areas around your foundation, windows, eaves, doors, vents, and other wall penetrations where air and moisture could be entering your house making it drafty and damp and take measures to seal things up. But beware!!! If you have gas fired appliances, especially water heaters or furnaces, sealing your home can cause deadly consequences because of inadequate combustion air or back-drafting of the combustion gases.

What to do:
Remove dying vegetation and leaves from around the foundation and fill any low spots that might allow water to accumulate in or near the foundation to help prevent moisture infiltration.
Install downspout diversion systems to channel water away from the foundation, sidewalks, driveways, etc.
Change Furnace Filters - a clogged filter is a heating/cooling systems worst enemy - change every month or more often if you have furry pets.
Dryer vents - disconnect from the appliance and clean and examine for breaks. Dryer vents should be metal smooth wall pipe with limited flex duct . Seams should be secured with clamps and approved metal tape - remember, screws holding pipes together also catch lint which can accumulate and cause improper venting and fires. Exterior dryer vent outlets should be checked for nests, debris, and overgrowth of bushes that could inhibit air flow. Remember to clear leaves and snow away from gas dryer vents throughout the fall and winter.
Flues and Chimneys (both clay and metal) may need professional cleaning and/or inspection prior to the heating season. Metal pipes attached to combustion furnaces and water heaters should be visually examined for corrosion, lose connections, holes, etc. and professionally repaired to prevent harm to the occupants.
Woodburning stoves and fireplaces and their exhaust pipes/chimneys should be thoroughly cleaned and examined for holes, cracks, missing tiles, lose caps, etc. Remember, you can't see the inside of your tile chimney well enough from the bottom or top to determine whether it has cracks that can easily lead to fires.
Weather stripping around doors/windows; range hood vents (do they close properly when the fan is not in use?).
This is also a great time to check your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors to make sure they are in working order and the batteries are fresh.