How to De-Winterize Your Chicago Home
The spring months are quickly approaching, and that means that the snowy winter in Chicago is coming to an end! With springtime comes warmer weather, and that means that you’ll want to get yourself and your home ready for spring!
Just like you need to winterize your home to keep it protected for winter, you need to de-winterize your home for warmer weather!
Here is everything you need to know to get your Chicago home ready for spring!
Go Over Your Winterizing Checklist
When you winterize your home, you likely (or should) have a checklist of everything that you need to do in order to prepare your home for the cold.
This checklist is a reminder of everything that you did, and everything that you need to undo! The major items on your checklist that you need to de-winterize are mostly connectivity based!
These Include:
- Turning your water back on to outside pipes
- Blowing out your sprinkler system (hiring a sprinkler professional for this is a good idea)
- Getting garden hoses out of storage
- Cleaning off and uncovering your A/C unit
Put Snow Supplies Away
Chicago typically gets a significant amount of snow during the winter, so you likely have a ton of snow gear.
If you have a snowblower, you need to prepare it to sit before storing it until next winter.
- Letting it run until all of the gas has been used is a good idea, or alternately siphoning the gas out.
- This is because gas that is sitting in it for a long time can settle and cause problems when you get it out of storage.
Put shovels and any de-icer or sand away that you have as well, to make room for spring and summer gardening and lawn maintenance.
- This is also a great time to get your lawn mowers out and check to see if they are working properly!
- Typically these supplies are less expensive during the “off-season” than in warmer months.
Schedule Maintenance
The winter months can put a lot of wear and tear on your home, so it is a good idea to get your home inspected to make sure that everything is working properly. Roofs and furnaces see a lot of wear during the winter, as well as the exterior in general.
Check your air and furnace filters and clean or replace them if necessary. In addition, scheduling maintenance on your home – if the inspector finds anything that needs to be repaired – is important.
Similar to supplies, maintenance costs (for roofs, A/C units, etc.) will cost more during warmer months, because more people will realize that they were damaged during the winter and they need to be repaired.
Miscellaneous Tasks
If your home has storm windows that you install on doors and windows, remove them and replace them with screens. This will help keep your home ventilated and cool during spring and summer.
Spring cleaning is well-known for a reason – winter means spending more time indoors, and that likely means that your home could use some tidying up. Vacuuming and dusting are important, because allergens and dirt can build up over the winter and affect your allergies during allergy season.
Make sure to wait to de-winterize your home until the beginning or middle of the spring season, especially with water lines!
If you de-winterize your sprinklers and exterior faucets too soon, there is still a risk for a cold front to come in and cause them to freeze and burst!
