This week, members of Ivory Marketing met with Liz Wolfgramm who works for the Warranty department. Liz was able to share her tips and tricks for winterizing your home before Utah winter is among us!!

"Homes in Utah need certain things to maintain them, to keep them so they're doing well. And winter is one thing that we get here in Utah where we get really cold temperatures and we need to take care of our homes so they don't have issues in the future." -Wolfgramm

Preventing Frozen Pipes

To start this, you will want to unhook all of the hoses from the exterior part of the house and tuck those away in your garage or storage. Doing this will reduce the risk of pipes cracking and causing leaks inside your home.

Prepping your Rain Gutters

"Another thing you want to maintain in the winter before it gets really snowy is to clean out the rain gutters to make sure there aren't leaves in the rain gutters or anything else that may cause a blockage. We found out through warranty that a tennis ball in a rain gutter fits perfectly over the hole so it won't drain into the downs spill. You need to make sure that those downspouts are not popping up into the lawn. So make sure that those are working properly and that lawn hasn't covered those. You also might wanna put heat tape onto north facing sides of the home because that's where a tendency to have water freeze in the rain gutters. 

Now if ice gets into rain gutters and freezes, which is common, it will pull the caulking apart in the rain gutters. So you'll want to make sure that everything is caulked and proper before it starts freezing and gets ice in there. And that's why you put heat tape in our or install heat tape on the north facing homes, just so you don't have that kind of a problem." -Wolfgramm

Insulate Windows

This is especially important for basement windows, but all windows will benefit from this! Make sure to check the caulking around your windows, Liz mentions that there is so much expansion and contraction in these insulating caulking because of the hot and cold temperatures that Utah is used to. So double check that everything is well insulated. In order to maintain an energy efficient home and keep the cost of heating your home down as well.

Replacing Furnace Filters

You should check your furnace filters often as it gets colder. This will allow your furnace to run properly. Liz mentions, "These high efficiency furnaces will not function properly if we restrict the airflow."

So it is super important to remember to check that often to keep your furnace running the way it should.

All in all, make sure that you're maintaining your home because this is your home! "It's probably one of the biggest, not only monetary investments, but emotional investments or personal investments that you can make. And if you don't take care of your home, it will not last as long as it should." -Wolfgramm

If you have any other questions, you can reach out to us via Facebook or our chat box on our website IvoryHomes.com