Have you prepared your home for winter? Do you know what you should do to make sure you’re ready for the cold, wet months ahead?
A great thing about rental living in Chico is that we get to experience all four seasons. Because it does get rainy and stormy in our neck of the woods, we’re pretty sure you want your apartment to be safe and warm during the winter months. Below are some tips to help you WINTERize your home using the easy to remember acronym WINTER:
Watch Out For Yourself
Just because we don’t have to worry about too many emergency situations rental living in Chico – like flash floods or tornados – doesn’t mean they won’t happen. The most important step when preparing to WINTERize your home is to make an emergency kit in case of strong winter storms. The kit could include indoor candles, matches or a lighter, batteries, a couple jugs of water, non-perishable food items like canned food, blankets, a first aid kit, and a list of important numbers.
Inspect Windows And Doors For Leaks
Feel around doors and windows for any drafts allowing cold air into your Chico or Redding rental living space. Electric wall plugs and switches can also allow cold air inside. If you detect any leaks from these areas, let your apartment manager know. They can easily be fixed by using some weather stripping, caulking, and installing foam gaskets to fit behind switch plates.
Note Your Surroundings
It’s important to WINTERize your home outside too. Even though you may live in an apartment complex that should be doing its own kind of winterizing, take a look around the outside area of your apartment to make sure gutters are cleaned, there aren’t any dangerously low hanging branches, or places that may be extra slippery when it rains. Check for the same things when renting your home! Also check the outside of your own apartment/rental and store away patio furniture, or any plants that are prone to freezing.
Turn Your Furnace On Now
One of the most important tasks to WINTERize your home is checking your furnace. Rental living in Chico, it’s easy to not have to worry about flipping on the furnace until November or December. Instead of waiting until your home is cold to turn your heater on, turn it on now. Check for the smell of burning. If you do smell something, check to make sure there is no smoke. If the burning smell doesn’t go away after a little while, or if your heater sounds like it’s struggling, then let your rental manager know – it probably needs a tune up.
Evaluate Using Energy Efficient Light Bulbs
Since we’re rental living in Chico or Redding, in the Northern Hemisphere where it gets dark early in the winter months, you’ll be using your electricity more. Take a trip to your nearest home improvement store and purchase a pack of Energy Star light bulbs to help cut the cost of your energy bill.
Reverse Ceiling Fans
An often overlooked step to WINTERize your home is to reverse the switch on your ceiling fans so that they pull air upward toward the ceiling. In the summer, air blowing downward is a good idea because it improves circulation, but in the winter you don’t want a cooling draft. Since heat rises, pulling air upward will force the heated air back down.
Once you’ve taken the time to WINTERrize your home, you can sit back with a cup of hot cocoa and a cozy fleece blanket and enjoy watching the rain hit your window panes.
We hope these rental living tips were helpful! If you need help finding an apartment or rental check out our search page, where we list all our available places to rent in Chico, Redding, and the surrounding areas.
