During the winter, you probably spend more time in your home than any other time of the year. Now the sun has retreated back behind the clouds for the year, it’s highly likely that you’ll spend more time with the central heating on high, in front of the TV and cooking lots of warm comfort food. Unfortunately, winter is also the time when homes are at most risk of developing serious faults, like power cuts and broken central heating systems. To make ensure you enjoy the winter months at home without incident, here are some steps to help keep your house up and running in tip-top condition.
Locate your emergency items before you need them
If the power goes off in your house or a water pipe suddenly bursts, it’s more than likely that your first thought could be to panic. To try and reduce the stress you’ll feel if one of these problems does occur, plan what you will do well ahead of time. For example, make sure you know exactly where your stopcock is to cut off the supply of water to your home if a leak suddenly develops. Locate your fuse box and learn exactly what each switch does. It would also be a good idea to make sure you keep a torch nearby in case you do need to flick any switches in the dark.
Find experts before you need them
Often when something goes wrong with your house, the way of fixing or even diagnosing the problem will be completely beyond your skillset. When this is the case, you might think you’d simply be able to pick up your local directory or search online for an engineer to call and they’ll be around your house within the hour. The reality is that whether it’s an electrician, a plumber or another trade, they could be extremely busy, and you might end up calling different numbers for hours trying to find someone who can attend to the problem quickly.
The best way to prepare for a situation like this is to employ a tradesperson before you encounter the problem. Find a company that offers to look after your systems for a small fee every month. For example, Shropshire Gas offer breakdown cover for as little as 49 pence per month. With this cover, they’ll send the best gas engineer Telford has to visit your house to diagnose and repair the problem much sooner than later. Not only that, if you want to keep your system running smoothly for longer periods, experts at Romeos Fuel suggest going for premium fuel oil for your heating system.
Clean
One of the easiest ways to assure all the equipment in your house continues to function in the way it should is to make sure it’s cleaned regularly. Things like dirt, rust and even dust could cause a wide range of things to malfunction. For example, a build-up of leaves in your guttering could stop the rainwater from travelling down the drainpipe and away from your home. This could lead to damp on your walls or even a leak. Make sure you clear the pipes regularly of any leaves before they have the chance to do any damage.
