By 
“Winter is coming”. While that phrase does not come with all the dread of the Game of Thrones, it is certainly a time that can be quite uncomfortable. In the winter, warmth, lighting and mood are the biggest things that you need to tackle. In doing so, you will be able to prepare your home for the winter months, and not just see out the winter, but even enjoy it.
Table of Contents
Check your Furnace
The most important consideration for the winter is maintaining warm heating throughout. In order to ensure that you have adequate heating, you should check your furnace to see that it is working properly. If you need to do so, change your air filter, which is liable to get clogged and become inefficient over time.
Clean the Fireplace and Stove
You should also check your fireplace and stove to see if they need any cleaning. Clean them if necessary, which in most instances it often is. You also want to make sure there is no accumulation of soot, that the joints are not leaking.
Check to see that the stove is working properly with the right level of heat, and does not have any carbon building up. Look for a non-combustible sealant as well.
Paint the Rooms
Winters can be very depressing, with many people suffering from seasonal affective disorder, or “winter depression”. Full Coverage Painting believes that one way to improve the mood during the winter is to repaint some or all of the rooms in your home, with brighter colors that will lift the mood. That belief is backed by science, with evidence showing that different colors convey different moods. Country Living shows how blue, for instance, is a very calming color, while yellow brightens the mood.
Plant a Hedge
Hedges are best planted just before winter, during the fall. They are great at marking the boundaries of your garden, and vegetable patches, and giving you more privacy. It may take a long time to grow into the fullness of its potential, but it will be well worth it.
Your main choices will be between evergreen and deciduous hedges. Once you have chosen what hedge to plant, you can dig trenches where you will plant the hedges. Loosen the roots from the root ball, and space each plant 30 to 60 cm apart, depending on the plant. During the winter, the roots will dig in, preparing for the spring when the hedge will sprout.
Insulate the Attic
Burst pipes often occur during the winter, and can cost thousands of dollars to fix. You should upgrade your attic’s insulation so that the pipes remain toasty during the winter.
Clear out your attic, which can be very challenging on its own. Look for a high quality mineral wool inflation material. Use two layers of this material; one between the joints and the other at right angles on top of the joints. If you are still going to use the space, put down sole boards so that the insulation isn’t crushed.
Fix the Lighting
Finally, you should do this other thing for your mood: fix the lighting. Look at all the sources of lighting, from lamps to windows, and think about how you can improve the lighting. It may mean getting brighter bulbs for your lamps, cleaning the windows, moving lamps around, or adding more lamps to your home. Your primary goal should be increasing the amount of natural lighting in your home, and if that is not possible, to increase the amount of artificial lighting.
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