Is Your Home Prepared for the Minnesota Winter?

With fall in full swing, today we’d like to ask you one simple question: is your home ready for the winter months? There are a few things you can do to the exterior of your home now to winterize it and avoid costly problems in the future:

1. Trim back your trees and bushes. If there are branches up against the exterior of your home, cut them back. In our climate, the high winds that we experience can cause those branches to freeze and scrape your siding.

2. Seal off your access points. You probably have an exposed access point on the exterior of your home through which plumbing and cable lines are fed inside. From an energy standpoint, make sure you have this access point sealed so that your heating and cooling system operates at maximum efficiency. Additionally, these are key areas for rodents to enter your home, so be sure to seal these openings with caulk or spray foam.

3. Clear your gutters of any leaves and debris. While leaves are great for fall fun, leaves in your gutters can allow ice to build up and ultimately cause damage to the interior of your home.

4. Protect your lawn from voles. As we Minnesotans know, there are little rodents called voles that can do a lot of serious damage while tunneling through your yard. One of the ways to prevent them from tunneling is to cut your grass a little bit lower in the fall. This will prevent these voles from burrowing and nesting in your grass. This way, you can rest easy knowing that you’ll have a beautiful yard to look forward to in the spring!

We know that preparing your home for the winter months ahead can become a little overwhelming at times, so we’d be happy to recommend contractors that can come out and help you with any of these projects.

If you have any other questions about winterizing your home or anything else related to Twin Cities real estate, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We’d be happy to help you!