Preparing Your Home and Vehicle for Winter

For most New England residents, winter truly is the most wonderful time of the year. However, whether you enjoy the snow and cold, or would rather fly south for the season, it’s important to prepare your home and vehicle for the severe weather.

Preparing Your Home

Inspect Your Furnace: Call an HVAC professional to inspect your furnace and clean ducts. Also, consider switching out your thermostat for a programmable one. If your home is heated by a hot-water radiator, bleed the valves by opening them slightly and when water appears, close them.

Properly Prepare Your Fireplace: Cap or screen the top of the chimney to keep out rodents and birds. If the chimney hasn't been cleaned for a while, call a chimney sweep to remove soot and creosote. Be sure to buy firewood early and store it in a dry place away from the exterior of your home.

Check Your Home’s Exterior, Doors and Windows: Inspect the exterior for crevice cracks and exposed entry points around pipes; seal them and use weatherstripping around doors to prevent cold air from entering the home and caulk windows. Replace cracked glass in windows and, if you end up replacing the entire window, prime and paint exposed wood.

Preparing Your Vehicle

Keep an emergency kit in your car. If you don't already have an emergency kit in your car, consider putting together a few basics and store them in the trunk. Naturally, you'll want to be sure your spare tire is in good shape with all the tools to change it out. Your kit should include:

• A flashlight and first aid kit
• A blanket, warm clothes and gloves
• A radio
• A bag of abrasive material like sand or kitty litter for when you get stuck
• Extra windshield washer fluid
• A brush or ice scraper
• Extra coolant

When you take the time to plan ahead, you can make winterizing your vehicle an easy, annual ritual that will keep you and your family safe.

Check the battery. A car battery can die without any notice. Extremely cold temperatures can reduce a car battery’s life by up to 50 percent. Before the cold weather sets in, have your battery tested by your local mechanic - especially if you have an older car. Also, make sure your battery connections are free from corrosion.

Check the tire pressure and consider snow tires. Tire pressure is especially important during the winter, as a properly inflated tire will help guarantee better traction in wet, snowy conditions. Make sure to read your owner's manual to find the correct tire pressures.

Inspect your windshield wiper blades and fluid. Visibility while driving during winter months is vital to your safety. Precipitation and salt buildup on the windshield can be hazardous while driving in winter weather. Make sure that you not only check the condition of your windshield wiper blades, but also consider changing your existing blades to versions that are made for the harsh winter weather.

Following these precautionary measures are a great way to get ahead of winter weather. However, no winter preparation is complete without the proper coverage, so be sure to call your Hunter Insurance agent today at 769-9500 to discuss the benefits of combining your home and auto policy today.