Following the recent decline in temperatures, it's the perfect time to embark on a few simple home improvements to ensure you can enjoy a stress-free Winter. From servicing your boiler to securing your home, get ahead with these simple maintenance tasks to save you both time and money in the near future.
Get Insulating:
It's well worth ensuring all doors and windows are sealed correctly to stop warm air escaping and cold air coming into your home. Additionally, it's a good idea to check small openings such as letterboxes, keyhole and cat flaps as you'd be surprised how much cold air can be distributed through these small gaps. To prevent this, letterboxes can be fitted with a 'brush,' keyholes can be protected with a 'keyhole cover' and cat flaps can be lined with insulation for an extra energy-efficient home.
Secure Your Property:
With recent research revealing 56% of burglaries happen at night and a further 73% of burglars using doors to enter a property, it's important to ensure all entrances are as secure as possible during the darker evenings. Firstly, double check all front, back and side gates are secured with bolts. Next, look at updating any old or worn front door locks to a multi-point system which make it much more difficult to force entry.
Service That Boiler:
If possible, try to have your boiler serviced at least once a year. Not only will this guarantee a lovely warm home over the cooler months but your engineer will be able to check that your boiler is running as efficiently as possible, which in turn will help keep your heating bills to a minimum. If you're looking to save extra cash, why not try insulating your hot water tank to conserve additional heat?
Sweep Your Chimney:
Don't forget the importance of taking care of your chimney for a safer and more efficient fireplace. Keeping your chimney clean and well-swept helps prevent chimney fires as well as reducing the risk of dangerous fume emissions from blocked heating appliances and flue ways. Though it is possible to clean your chimney yourself, we'd recommend calling out your local chimney professional for complete peace of mind.
Clean Guttering:
Frequently eradicating leaves and debris from your gutters can effectively prevent internal damp. You should also remove any leaves from the guttering of your Outdoor Living Pod. However, besides this small task, the beauty of our Outdoor Living Pod is that it's virtually maintenance free, only requiring an occasional wash with a power wash or soft cloth/sponge to keep your Pod looking immaculate. Similarly, our blinds are also very low maintenance, requiring absolutely no servicing because the motors and mechanism are all sealed units, concealed within the blind housing so they're totally hassle-free throughout all four seasons.
