10 Tips on Winterizing your home in Ottawa by Nilay Ertemur Century 21 John DeVries Ltd

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10 Tips on Winterizing your home in Ottawa
Nilay Ertemur, Sales Representative
CENTURY 21 John DeVries Ltd.
444 Hazeldean Road
Ottawa, ON K2L 1V2
Direct: 613-915-8208
Office 613-836-2570
Office Fax 613-836-2619
Toll free: 1 888-837-5570
http://nilay.ca

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1. Clean your gutters
September onward would be the best time
to clean up all the tree branches, leaves or
toys that are stuck in the gutters. You do
not want the fall rain to be draining towards
your house, you want it away from your
foundation, having them cleared for
rain/water flow would benefit any home. If
you have a tree that sheds it's leaves late
in fall, you may wish to do this later in the
season.

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2. Replace your furnace filter
Most of us forget about replacing our
furnace filters (which causes us to
reach the furnace company for a
service call only for them to advise us
to change our filter and the furnace
works just fine again) they do get dusty
over the summer even though your
furnace may not be running that much
(remember it still runs if you have an air
conditioning unit), replace your filter
and mark the date on your calendar so
that you know when the filter was last
changed.

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3. Caulk any gaps at windows or doors
Caulking is one of the cheapest
solutions to block draft air coming into
your home. The process is by simply
moving your hand around the edges of
your door and windows and find out if
there is any air coming in. Caulk around
where you feel the draft, don't forget the
attic door, and your laundry dryer vent
might need caulking as well.

5. 4. Check door and garage door weatherstripping
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Check the main entrance door
weatherstripping, if its damaged,
replace it and also the weatherstripping
for the door that enters your house
through the garage. There is weather
stripping for your outside garage doors
that one can purchase from Lowes or
Home Depot. Having garage door
sealers/weatherstrips adds an extra
layer or blockage of wind and breeze,
thus it keeps your garage and house
warmer.

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5. Insulate electrical outlets and switches
Most people may not realize that
electrical outlets also bring in some
draft air into houses, and one can
purchase a simple styrofoam socket
sealer from Home Depot or Lowes.
Remember when working with
electricity, one has to turn it off from
the main electrical panel before
starting to unscrew any socket.

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6. Add attic insulation
Houses lose most heat
through the roof/attic, I have
an article of how to insulate
your attic, and it does really
help in warming your house
when you increase your attic
insulation!
Read more here

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7. Reverse your ceiling fan
Most people think of using
their ceiling fans only in
summer, but in winter if you
reverse the rotation (i.e
running clockwise) it will
bring back the warm air from
the ceiling back down to be
recirculated.

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8. Wrap those pipes
Turn off those outside water
sprinklers or faucets so that you
don't get your pipe frozen and end
up with unpleasant insurance claims
and flooding problems , turn them off
from the inside if you can access
them, also get pre-molded pipe
sleeves to wrap up any hot water
pipe so that less heat is lost through
them for your hot water tank.

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9. Get a programmable thermostat
If you are still using a non-programmable
thermostat,
go and obtain one that you
can program, it will save you
money. Hydro Ottawa peak
saver plus runs a free
program to get free
thermostat till the end of
September 2014.

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10. Seal up any ducts
The ducts that run around your
house can also be sealed up with
aluminum foil metal tape, if you
find/reach any heating duct,
check if there is any leakage
around them, usually leakage is
found around the joints. Use your
hands to feel if there is any
breeze, and put some extra tape
to seal it up.

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And Remember to Enjoy Winter !
Vist http://nilay.ca follow me on twitter
@nertemur for more tips, if you would
like to know the property value of your
home,please feel free to get in touch
with me.
CENTURY 21 John DeVries Ltd.
444 Hazeldean Road
Ottawa, ON K2L 1V2
Direct: 613-915-8208
Office 613-836-2570
Office Fax 613-836-2619
Toll free: 1 888-837-5570