Check off your January Home Maintenance List!

Protect your home from harsh winter weather and get a jump-start on your top projects for the year.  One of your main goals for this month is to prevent water damage from bursting pipes and leaks in your home. Check out our list for January! 

1. Insulate any pipes that are exposed to the cold

Give special attention to vulnerable pipes — indoors and out — that are exposed to the cold, including hose bibs, pipes in outside walls, garden sprinkler lines, swimming pool pipes and pipes in unheated attics, basements and garages. A frozen pipe needs only a one-eighth-inch crack to leak as much as 250 gallons a day.

2. Clean and Re-caulk

Remove moldy, broken cracked caulk around bathtubs, showers, toilets, and sinks. Re-caulk these elements to keep them secure from leaks, water damage, and more.

3. Clean Your Pipes

De-scale your pipes overnight using vinegar. Make sure to brush up on what things you can and cannot put down your drains, and what plumbers suggest when cleaning your drains.

4. Clean Shower Heads and Taps

Clean your shower heads and taps from hard water deposits by soaking them in vinegar overnight. Clean faucet aerators to improve water flow. 

5. Clean Pop-Up Mechanisms

Clean your sink pop-up mechanism this month to ensure you don't have anything that is clogging up your sink! 

6. Check All Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Detectors 

With more heater use and wood fires in the fireplace, it is especially important during winter to make sure those smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are working.

7. Organize Cold Weather Accessories

Stay toasty warm with plush, thick socks, cozy hats, scarves and gloves or mittens. Sort through your sock drawer, entryway baskets and hooks and anywhere else cold-weather accessories are hiding, and take stock of what you have. 

Information courtesy of: Houzz, Blue Water Mortgage, and Land Mark Home Warranty