Skip to content Accessibility info

Hummel Winters Insurance Blog

All You Ever Wanted to Know About Insurance

Make Sure Your Home is Ready for Winter

Summer has ended, but there’s no need to fret: Fall brings with it crisp, cool days, wonderful colors — and football season!

It also brings with it a few maintenance tasks that Hummel Winters recommends to help ensure your home is ready for fall and winter weather in Indiana.

Check out the following information for some general tips from the National Association of Home Builders, and don’t hesitate to call us if you have questions about what your home insurance policy covers.

Exterior maintenance

  • Gutters: Leaves, pine needles and other material can clog your gutters in the fall, preventing proper drainage and raising the risk of water damage to your walls, foundation, basement or landscaping. Remove all debris from your gutters and consider installing one of the many available gutter guard systems — it could be the last time you have to worry about clogged gutters.
  • Trees: Weak trees and branches can break and cause damage to your home, car or even someone walking on your property (the latter is a good reason to consider a personal umbrella insurance policy). Watch out for large dead or detached branches, as well as cracks or rotten wood along trunks and major branches. If there are potential hazards, call a professional tree service.
  • Roof: Damaged or loose shingles, as well as gaps where roofing or siding meets vents and flues, can mean emergency (and expensive) repairs later. Being proactive is the best way to avoid problems — if you see signs of damage, you’ll want to call a professional roofer.
  • Walls: The exterior walls of your home keep the weather out — so you’ll want to make sure they’re up to the challenge of of a Indiana winter. Look for possible damage or decay on siding and trim, and patch or replace pieces if necessary.

Interior maintenance

  • Insulation: Check the insulation in your attic, basement and crawl spaces, and insulate pipes in those spaces to protect against freezing.
  • Pipes: Nobody wants to deal with a frozen pipe, so if you live in a place susceptible to freezing, wrap exposed ones with heating tape every winter and keep your home above 65 degrees. Always check for cracks and leaks. And know where the main water shut-off is in your home so you can act quickly if there is a problem.
  • Heating: It’s a good idea to have your heating systems (furnace, fireplace, water heater, etc.) serviced every year.

For more information on home maintenance, visit the National Association of Home Builders website at www.nahb.com. A little action on your part now can make fall and winter a lot more enjoyable for you and your family.

 For further questions and assistance, please contact our office.

 


Discussion

Laren Smith

Sunday, November 13, 2011 at 3:42am EST

Very good article! Will use it to winterize our home! Thanks Hummel Winters for always looking out for your clients.


Jeanie Manser

Wednesday, December 13, 2023 at 2:37pm EST

Thank you for sharing these tips! We’re first-time homeowners so we’re learning what we need to do to winterize our home. We just did a lot of fall cleaning from scrubbing the kitchen to getting our carpet cleaned. Now that we’ve finished that list, we’ll be making sure our home is ready for the colder weather! Thanks for sharing!


Leave a Comment

Required fields are marked with

Comment

Your name, comment, and URL will appear on this page after it has been reviewed and approved. Your email address will not be published.