Winter Home Maintenance

Winter is upon us, which may mean higher bills, and the need to be more diligent in the upkeep of certain things around our home, to keep us warm and safe.  Here are a few tips to help with the winter time blues.

Check your outlets.  Outlets that are damaged or have shorts in them can cause not only major issues, but also higher electric bills.  The easiest way to do this is to take a small appliance and plug into each outlet.  However, if you want to have a more accurate result, you can purchase a multimeter at any home improvement store.  This will give you an accurate voltage reading, which should be between 110v - 120v AC.

Check the roof for forming ice dams.  Even in North Carolina, we have winters cold enough for snow and ice once in a while.  The combination of the heat from inside your home, and the cold air outside, can cause moisture to accumulate and freeze, causing ice dams on your roof.  This can cause water damage to your roof, even allowing water to leak into your attic.   

Remove window AC units.  While this may seem to be an obvious thing to do, many people still leave them in place for one reason or another.  Leaving these units in place can cause your electric bill to rise in the winter, as whether it is realized or not, warm air from inside can escape out around the unit, causing your heater to work extra hard to compensate.

Article courtesy of Military Relocator in Jacksonville, NC