We've started to winterize the house.
Garden hoses have been removed and drained, water valves closed tight and a tool kit is being placed on the wall right above our water pump for emergency removal when the water starts to rise in our basement. The kids did a sweep of the yard and brought in any stray toys out in the field, bikes were brought closer to home and the ride on mower was tucked safely in the garage.
Last year we nearly lost the bikes and the mower when everything went under water and the swift current pulled things down river as we flooded on November 16th, and with the last flood in January still fresh in our minds we're being proactive and taking care of business now, not when the water is already knee deep *grin*.
Garden hoses have been removed and drained, water valves closed tight and a tool kit is being placed on the wall right above our water pump for emergency removal when the water starts to rise in our basement. The kids did a sweep of the yard and brought in any stray toys out in the field, bikes were brought closer to home and the ride on mower was tucked safely in the garage.
Last year we nearly lost the bikes and the mower when everything went under water and the swift current pulled things down river as we flooded on November 16th, and with the last flood in January still fresh in our minds we're being proactive and taking care of business now, not when the water is already knee deep *grin*.
Our house was built in the 60's and still has the original aluminum single pane windows which are notoriously drafty. Brrr is an understatement! They actually grow solid ice more than 2 inches thick on the inside of the windows during a cold snap and I remember as a kid sleeping with my touque on just to keep my ears warm LOL. So to combat the cold and prevent heat loss Hubby and I have been putting up shrink wrap plastic to act as a thermal barrier for the last couple of years. Awesome stuff!!
You run a strip of double sided tape all around the window frame and then stick on a piece of the plastic sheet....
...hit it with the heat gun and it magically shrinks up the plastic so it is super taut and it keeps the heat in. No more ice on the windows and no condensation either!!
The children's rooms and ours are all done along with our laundry room and now I'm considering seeing if we can find some that is large enough to do the giant bay windows in the family and dining rooms. We already notice the heat staying longer and it keeps us from burning to much wood which is our main heating source :)
I've got some old denim that I've been saving in my craft closet and over the next couple of weeks I think I'm going to sew some draft stops for the bottom of the doors starting with the porch door by my computer desk. My feet are freezing as I sit here *grin*.
How about you, what sort of things do you do to winterize your home?
Hugs,
Rosina
The nights are drawing in and it's getting colder. Like you I have 'Sausages' or 'Snakes' for all of my doors. During the warmer months the internal doors remain open much of the time, but now we have started to close them to keep the heat in. The curtains get closed earlier in the evenings and opened later in the day. Extra blankets and quilts go onto the beds and heavier winter throws are put over the sofas to snuggle under. Oh yeah! I cook more food in the oven, lots of slow cooked casseroles and hot pots. :-)
ReplyDeleteI've been considering that plastic for our windows too. Our house 115 years old and while we had some ofo the windows replace in 2006, the floors are cold and the house is just plain draughty. Our curtains don't get opened as much in the winter and of course all the beds have heavy blankets on them now. I need to make me some of those door snakes. I bed they would be helpful. Thanks for some great ideas. They all beat turning up the furnace. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's feeling like winter here too. We need to do some serious work insulating our basement. It makes our house seriously cold! If we can tackle that, then I think our house would be in good shape for the cold weather.
ReplyDeleteI need to make my mom a couple of snakes. What do you fill yours with?
ReplyDeleteLoulee, sounds like you are getting all cozied in for winter to :) Love it!
ReplyDeleteDebbie :) You should definitely give the plastic for the windows a try. It has been doing wonders for us and I don't know why we never tried it sooner *grin*.
Hi Annie :) Our basement is so cold to. It is entirely cement (walls,floor,ceiling) and half in the ground so it is damp and very very cold. Our main woodstove is down there so it heats the floors in the center rooms and then the heat rises through the stairs into the kitchen but it could use some serious insulating. Although in the summer months it is a godsend because we can blow the refrigerator like air upstairs and it's like having a built in air conditioner *grin*.
Mama Llama :)
I fill my door snakes with my fabric scraps. I have tons of little bits of fabric strips that I cut off my bags when I sew the french seams and I bag them up for stuffing projects :) They compact together like cement when packed tightly and it makes on super HEAVY and dense snake. Old clothing would do the same trick to. If you have a rag bag or children's clothing that is to worn out for donating to charity you could use it to stuff with to :) Have fun making some for your mom!