Winter home maintenance checklist: prepare your property for cold weather

It seems a little precious to be thinking about winter when we've only just entered autumn (meteorologically speaking), but it's important to remember the scout motto that does well in all aspects of life: Be prepared!

As we gradually transition into the traditionally wetter and colder months, with the nights drawing in earlier and earlier, you'll be far more likely to be ensconced in your home than you were during the warmer, lighter days of summer when the balmy evenings invited sitting outside until it was almost time to go to bed, perhaps even kicking off the bedclothes because of the sultry heat.

And, with that, comes the need to ensure your home is prepared for the demands you put on it.

Notwithstanding the effects of climate change taking some of the frosty sting out of a lot of days, the chances are that you'll be wanting to snuggle down in a cosy, warm home, while ensuring that it can withstand whatever the British weather decides to throw at it.

These are the key things to consider when preparing your home for winter:

Service the boiler - from a safety standpoint, let alone to ensure that it pumps the heat round the home that you require on demand, it is essential that you have your boiler regularly serviced by a qualified professional.

Bleed the radiators - with the heating system dormant for several months, it is quite possible that air has built up in the system, so now is a good time to work your way around all your radiators and bleed them to remove that air, taking care to place a cloth underneath to capture any escaping water.

Check the thermostats - wherever you have thermostats on your heating system, it's worth checking that they operate effectively (sometimes the mechanism gets stuck in one position with lack of use over the summer months). If you have a Hive device (or similar) check that you can control the heating with it and replace batteries if necessary.

Check and protect the pipes - check all the joints for potential leaks and ensure that, where necessary, the lagging of pipes (for example, in the loft or cellar spaces) are effectively lagged and replace and mend where there are sections that are not fully protected.

Check the stopcock - while all your preparation to avoid leakages and other problems have been carried out and potential problems have been resolved, it's still a good idea to check that the stopcock can be turned off in an emergency (such as an unexpected burst pipe). If you are at all concerned and don't possess the basic plumbing skills, then call in a professional to verify the effectiveness of the plumbing system.

Check loft and cellar insulation - check that the insulation is correctly in place and resite it or replace the material if necessary.

Sweep the chimney - if you have a log fire or an open fireplace that you use to heat a room or the house, it's always a good idea to ask a chimney sweeping service to check it over and take action if there is sufficient build-up of deposits, since these can be the cause of fires in the chimney stack and flue. The summer months might have also seen birds using the chimney as a nesting site, which becomes a fire hazard, or may force the smoke back into the room.

Check the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms - with the increased likelihood that you'll want to heat your home, and particularly if you use solid fuel in grates, you'll need to ensure that your alarms are tested, replacing batteries if necessary.

Check the roof - look over your roof for evidence of cracks or misplaced tiles and organise for any problems to be rectified.

Clear the gutters - check and unclog the gutters of any detritus such as moss and leaves to allow the rainwater to flow freely, particularly throughout autumn as the trees and other plants drop their leaves. These can lead to blockages with heavy rains cascading water down the walls of the home, which lead to internal damp problems.

Check the seals on doors and windows - the last thing you want when it gets colder is to feel the cold draught around you, so checking and remedying problems with the seals means that you are not only protected from that, but you won't be spending extra money on trying to heat the home.

Store garden furniture - there may be some relatively balmy days throughout the season that allow you to sit outside, even for a little while. However, you'll want to ensure your garden furniture is suitable protected either by covering it or putting it away. It'll make it far easier to bring it back out on the other side of the winter months.

Doing these simple steps will help to maintain your home and prepare for the harsher moments of the more inhospitable seasons. The process will also help you be better prepared in the event that you want to sell the property. A good maintenance plan will ensure that the home's condition remains intact.

Buying a home is one of the most stressful points in anyone's life, so you'll want to ensure that there won't be any surprises in the future created by how the property was constructed and its current condition. This is why taking out a survey gives you that peace of mind.

Surveyor Local connects you to chartered surveyors who are members of RICS, ensuring your survey is always professionally delivered. They will work hard to identify all kinds of problems, including the impact of prior flooding on the structure of the property.

Call  to get your no-obligation survey quote started, or you can get a quick quote using Surveyor Local's easy-to-use quote generator.