Do It Yourself Painting Basics: Prepping Your Exterior For Winter

PREPARE YOUR HOUSE EXTERIOR PAINTING FOR WINTER WITH THESE HOME IMPROVEMENT TIPS FROM HOME PAINTERS TORONTO

It seems like every year the cost of heat and power for your house get higher and harder to manage.  With energy costs on the rise, it is definitely beneficial to spend the time and the investment to winterize your home. Simple modifications can make a drastic changes in your energy consumption. Sealing windows that leak air and water, adding insulation, cleaning furnaces and protecting water pipes, can save you a lot of hassle in the exterior for winter months. When it will be already too late to prevent the problems.

Winter appears before you know it and cold weather can cause serious damage to your home (and wallet). We know that the winter season can take a toll on all types of properties. Whatever your personal feelings towards the season. The freezing temperature levels make surfaces fragile, snow can wamp moisture, and sharp winds can accelerate disintegration. Preparing your exterior for winter can help defend against the worst of winter’s rage.

The exterior of your house and business may pay the price if you do not do extra preparation. Just like your house exterior painting walls for the first time with the best exterior paint for cold weather. Make sure to put more safety measures you take to safeguard your house exterior throughout the winter season so you might enjoy the springtime.

First thing, insulate if you haven’t already. Attics are notorious for letting out hot air when poorly insulated. Funny how winter is the season of increasing cold weather paint. Energy bills as we attempt to keep every space in our home at a comfy warm temperature. However, having a correctly insulated attic area can help home comfiness without increasing your energy expenses. Thoroughly check your attic, and look for gaps and cracks where blown insulation may not have been appropriately arranged.

With properly arranged insulation, you keep heat out of the attic and in your home’s spaces and living areas. Also, keeping your attic cooler will likely prevent ice dams from forming on your roofing throughout the winter season. Wreaking damage in the future and ruining your best paint for cold weather.

Caulk any cracks in door frames and windows. You’d be surprised how much cold air can sneak in here. Apply weather stripping to doors and windows on the exterior. 

Ensure all flashing areas around garage roofs and bay windows have been caulked and sealed. A garage that isn’t effectively insulated enables heat to freely stream in and out of your house throughout the months, skyrocketing your bills. Of course, the energy waste will skyrocket during the winter season. Thus, remember to include your garage on your winter-season insulation checklist. If not considered, anticipate increasing energy bills and cold air sneaking whenever you enter your garage.

When insulating your garage, you should prioritize the wall the area shares with your home. This place is where most of the heat transfer occurs between your home and the garage. Likewise, never forget to include the garage door. It acts as a big, thin exterior wall with numerous joints that create areas where air can freely flow. Make sure storm windows are all sealed up as well. Or broken ones are repaired before the cold weather comes. 

Crawl spaces are easy to disregard as you do not see these parts of your home daily.

But when insulated, these areas play a crucial role in keeping your house warm and cozy during winter. You may call an insulation service company regarding this matter. If needed to ensure your upper and lower crawlspaces have sufficient protection versus cold temperature levels.

Furthermore, exterior walls shouldn’t be forgotten. Likely, your outside walls are currently insulated. But there’s no warranty that the insulation inside is sufficient. Even small gaps and fractures in your home’s exterior can result in drafts, moisture, and, even worse, bug invasion. Before winter reaches its destructive state, ensure that your house exterior is free from these uncertainties. You also have already checked exterior house painting ideas and spray painting in cold weather beforehand. This applies if you have any plans to do some projects like how to paint a house exterior before winter and incorporating your ideal painting house exterior colors. Small spaces and cracks should be sealed through caulking. And weather condition stripping will support safeguarding your windows from wetness intrusion.

The most vital part of wall insulation is accomplishing a continuous fit with no spaces. For instance, keeping layers of busted insulation seamless is challenging as there are electric outlets and pipes to work around. Thus, there might be spaces in your wall that will need insulation and proper sealing.

UPDATE YOUR WINDOWS:

Old style windows may let in cold air.  Either replace them or make sure they are thoroughly caulked and sealed.

Make sure there are no double pane windows that have condensation or broken vapour seals.  If so, have a window glass specialist come in and replace them.  This can cause cold air to come in.

WINTERIZE YOUR WATER PIPES:

Nothing worse than having frozen water pipes when getting ready for work in the morning. It is costly to repair frozen pipes. Winterizing plumbing is advised during winter, especially if it will be vacant for an extended period and no water will go through the pipelines. The winterizing process involves clearing the water heater, filling all components with an antifreeze solution, and draining pipes all water from the pipelines. Determine the pipes most vulnerable to freezing if you have sufficient time to thoroughly check the conditions of the structure’s plumbing. Look for pipelines outside windows and walls, uninsulated pipes, and pipelines near unheated areas.

Wrap pipes that are in basement/crawl spaces or garages with foam insulation, heat tape or pipe wrap. It is also essential to check for any fractures in floors, ceilings, and walls. Caulk them to keep cold air from entering those gaps if you discover holes during your checking.

Foam insulation:

It is a kind of insulation that is sprayed onto walls or into little, tough-to-reach locations. Although it is more costly than polystyrene and fibreglass insulation, which is installed in blocks or sheets, it is more reliable in areas like attics, where there might be unfinished walls and ceilings. Solid house insulation is vital for lowering heating and cooling expenses and avoiding damage from moisture and wetness.

Heat Tape:

For pipes can safeguard your home from frozen pipelines. Securing your pipes from freezing can prevent limited circulation and the dreadful burst pipe. Heat tape should be a vital part of your pipeline freeze defense system. Installing heat tape for pipelines allows you to keep non-flowing pipes in inadequately insulated border walls flowing regardless of harsh winter season temperatures.

Pipe Wrap:

You can likewise use heat cables with thermostat control as a pipe wrap. But do note that the best pipeline insulation for your situation will depend on your house.

Do a thorough check of the exterior door frame openings or any other areas that lead into the house.  Caulking and sealing these areas are crucial to prevent heat loss and water leaking

Next time it rains check for any water overflow in the eaves troughs and downspouts.  This is really important so water runs away from the house and not into the foundation causing a potential basement flood.

If you have a roof that’s low enough (i.e., a bungalow) see if you can check all the roof vents, valleys, and any roof openings to ensure they are all caulked and sealed.  Either caulk it or get a roofer to help you.  If the house is too high either call a roofer or handyman to help you with this.

The same goes for bricks and aluminum siding.  Make sure any cracks are sealed/caulked as well.

Preparing your exterior in the methods pointed out above will reduce the possible unfavorable impact winter season weather condition can have on your house. But then, it’s inadequate to simply call it a day after making these preparations. Remember that the most effective home exterior defense throughout the winter season is to take preventive measures with continuous action. We are sure you don’t want to let the snow build up outside your home. Thus, ensure that you also have snow remover types of equipment like shovels and snowblowers to secure your home throughout the winter season.