Cottage country is the first area to get hit by the season, getting buried under piles of snow and ice while other places are still dealing with light fall weather. Don’t leave your winterizing maintenance to the last minute and get stuck with unnecessary discomfort or expensive damages.
Improve the windows to keep the weather outside.
One way to block out the cold is to get new London vinyl windows installed in your cottage before the season hits. Look for multiple energy-efficient features like warm edge spacer technology and meticulous weather-stripping.
If you’re looking for window companies in London, you should turn to Golden Windows for your replacements. They have a dedicated installation team that can make the renovation go by in the blink of an eye. A professional installation won’t leave any regrettable gaps for the cold wind to push through. Visit their local showroom or go to their official website to see lots of replacement window options that are capable of guarding your cottage against the severe winter temperatures and are customizable so they can match your style.
Winterize the pipes so that they don’t freeze.
If you’re spending time at your cottage during the colder seasons, you need to take your plumbing into consideration. Frozen pipes can unexpectedly leak or burst and send tons of water flooding into the area.
Since your cottage will be in the middle of nowhere, you won’t be able to get a plumber to deal with this emergency in time. To prevent this disaster from happening in the middle of your vacation, you can keep your pipes from freezing by insulating them with foam tubes and maintaining a warm indoor temperature — letting the water run at all hours is not a good solution and heightens your risk of flooding.
Cover all of the essentials when you plan on leaving.
One of the first precautionary steps you need to do when winterizing your cottage and preparing for an extended absence is to give the kitchen a thorough clean — toss out all of the perishable food and then wipe down the inside of the refrigerator with disinfectant. Skipping this task means there will be rotting messes, terrible odours and critters when you return.
If you own a lakeside property, one of the things you shouldn’t forget to do when closing your cottage for the winter is to pull all of your canoes and kayaks out of the water before it freezes over for the season and before the snow starts to fall. Put them all on a sturdy boat rack, secure them with chains and cover them with a protective tarp.
Other tasks that you should include on your to-do list before heading home for weeks at a time:
- Drain your hot water tank
- Turn off the electricity
- Take out the garbage
Don’t underestimate the power of winter, because it can leave you with freezing rooms, plumbing emergencies and expensive damages to important units you have like water softeners, although many homes that have water softeners don’t have to deal with winter! For more information on water softeners, you can visit this page. It’s better to invest effort into winterizing the cottage now than to be sorry that you didn’t do anything later on.
