Tips on preparing your home for winter

Admit it, winter is coming, so start preparing your home for winter. Cozy up everything in and around the house before the cold and snow hit.

Dig out the snowblower, snow shovels, and ice chisels.

• Tune up your furnace. Make sure it is clean and running efficiently.

• Clean your chimney. Do the chimney sweep thing, or at least make sure nothing – such as a beehive – is blocking the flue. Even high-efficiency furnace PVC outlets need to be examined.

• Fill your fuel oil or propane tanks. And make sure the woodpile is topped off and at the ready.

• Plug the holes. Make sure doors and windows close snugly and weather stripping is in place. Caulk gaps and cracks that let in cold air.

• Put away yard and garden items. Some of these may get buried or damaged by snow. Others may be damaged by cold. And some items may just be in the way of efficient snow removal.

• Disconnect and blow out garden hoses. If a garden hose is left connected to an outside faucet, the water cannot drain properly and may freeze causing pipes to burst inside the house.

• Dig out the snowblower, snow shovels, and ice chisels. Trade places with your lawnmower, rakes, and hoes – so the winter equipment is in place before the first snow or ice storm.

• Have salt and sand on hand. Salt (or a less corrosive alternative) changes ice to a liquid so it can be removed. Sand doesn’t melt ice, but digs into the ice to provide traction.