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Winterizing Your Home, (A question from a California Kid)

Ok folks, most of you guys are sitting in the midwest or the east coast. I was born and raised in CA, I have never known a real winter. Sure we get snow, cold days, and ice. But nothing we have to prepare our homes and property for.

What does winterizing a home mean? And while we are at it, how about machinery and automotive? I lived in Aurora Illinois when I was about 6 and 7 years old, I just remember all the fun snow and the humid summer. But I was just a kid, it was all fun. What do you do to prepare for the long winter ahead?

Richard McComas, I bet you have some extreme winterizing to go through?

John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

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Master CarpenterPermalink Reply by Mike Dillen on October 10, 2011 at 9:26am

In the Pacific North West where our winters are mostly windy and wet, our houses have raised foundations with crawl space vents so I put in styrafoam blocks in the vents to cut down on the cold air blowing into the crawl space but I cut holes in them to allow some airflow. I also check the gasket that seals around the garage door and replace it when the rubber becomes cracked and stiff. I shut off the water to the lawn sprinkler and blow out the lines with my compressor. After that I sit back and dream of living in a dryer climate. I hate the winters up here because they are so wet.

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Site AdminPermalink Reply by John Morris on October 10, 2011 at 9:35am

Thanks Mike, I would like to expand my question to anyone in the country or around the world that has to take special precautions before winter sets in. Mikes reply reminded me, that just because areas don't get snow, that does not mean that precautions don't have to be taken.

To be honest, for us in So Cal, winter means I don't have to cut the grass every week, only every three weeks or so. Beyond that, nothing follows! Now to my mountain folks who live above the 5000 foot level here in So Cal, may have a different story. They get some good snow. But still, never as much as the midwest or east coast will in a typical winter.

John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

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Site AdminPermalink Reply by John Morris on October 10, 2011 at 9:16pm

Anyone else??

John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

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Forum HostPermalink Reply by Gene Howe on October 11, 2011 at 5:45am

We are at about 6K and it does get cold here in N. AZ.

We insulate and cover the AC units, blow out all the irrigation lines, and drain and put anti freeze in the camper's water lines.

Wife has several 75' water hoses that we drain.

Finally, I insure that all the water pipe heat tapes are operational in the shop. (That's where our well water storage tanks are located.) Then I turn on the gas to the shop heater.

House and shop are well insulated, and with triple pane windows. So, there's nothing else to do.

Gene
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

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ApprenticePermalink Reply by Rick Mathison on October 12, 2011 at 4:02pm

Central Minnesota here. Newer homes here do not require "winterizing" here. The homes are constructed with our winters already in mind.

I do remember my Dad wrapping the foundation of our old farm house with bales of straw. Once plastic bags became more available, people would use bags of leaves to insulate the foundation. If you haven't fiqured it out yet, this is a great place for mice. Windows would have their screens exchanged for storm windows. The windows would also get a layer of plastic installed over them also.

In the days when everyone still had well pits, you would drop an electric light into the pit for heat and then cover the pit with straw.

People in trailer houses do still have to insulate their foundations and they typically also wrap all of the plumbing pipes with heat tape to prevent them from freezing.

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Site AdminPermalink Reply by John Morris on October 14, 2011 at 5:50pm

Rick, that's a great point, your absolutely right, homes are built for the region these days. Unlike the days past. You built a stick framed home in Ca the same as you did in PA a 100 years ago or less. I could not imagine going through all that to winterize your home as your dad did. Incredible.

Rick Mathison said:

Central Minnesota here. Newer homes here do not require "winterizing" here. The homes are constructed with our winters already in mind.

I do remember my Dad wrapping the foundation of our old farm house with bales of straw. Once plastic bags became more available, people would use bags of leaves to insulate the foundation. If you haven't fiqured it out yet, this is a great place for mice. Windows would have their screens exchanged for storm windows. The windows would also get a layer of plastic installed over them also.

In the days when everyone still had well pits, you would drop an electric light into the pit for heat and then cover the pit with straw.

People in trailer houses do still have to insulate their foundations and they typically also wrap all of the plumbing pipes with heat tape to prevent them from freezing.

John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

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Master CarpenterPermalink Reply by Richard McComas on October 15, 2011 at 12:28am

Actually I don't have to much. I make sure my heating system is in good condition. clean up the yard so I don't have obstacles to plow around. Make sure the snowplow truck is ready and drain and put away any hoses and make sure the frost less hose bibs have draining properly. That's about it.

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JourneymanPermalink Reply by Travis Johnson on October 15, 2011 at 2:33pm

Here in Maine we take our Long Handled Underwear off on July 3rd and put it back on July 5th, so we are always getting ready for winter. :-)

Here old houses with rock foundations or trailers must "bank the house". This means going out into the woods and cutting down spruce or fir branches and placing them around the foundation. This allows the snow that is inevitably coming, to fall on the boughs and act as a dead air space. This will save you a lot of money in heating costs, but modern houses are draft free compared to manufactured and old houses.

One big winter adage we have here is, "you better have a big savings account, or a big pile of firewood, in order to get you through the winter". It is sound advice and many people from away with neither of those two things have suffered because of it.

Another winter thing here that seems almost absurd, is the use of heat on homes that are not lived in. It is true, if you have a home of any value here, you heat it. Because of the freeze-thaw cycling, and the fact that a insulated home without heat gets much colder on the inside then it is on the outside...and it can reach -42 degrees below zero F here...means the contracting wood will demolish the house in a few short winters. It really is destructive.

As for some odd facts here about winter...frost line here is 4 feet. Yes it really can freeze water pipes up to that depth so bury your pipes in deep. Houses typically have 18-24 inches of fiberglass batt insulation or the equivalent thereof in the attic, to retain the heat. There are no 2x4 walls here on domestic homes, you want the extra 2 inches of a 2x6 wall for extra wall insulation. Good housing design means the least number of windows on the north walls...windows have an R factor of 3-4 where as insulation is R-19. Snow can get deep...in 1994 I used a tractor with a bucket to remove snow from around the windows to let light into the house as snowdrifts had reached eve levels of the roof thereby depressing my wife who could only look out and see...snow!

(I wish I had my other computer running so that I could back every statement up with pictures proving what I say. The picture of the outdoor thermometer on Jan 15th 2009 was a good one....-42.2 degrees below zero F!! Life in winter is tough here in Maine).