Vince Stoakley is owner of Pillar To Post working in Houston.
Every week, we ask a real estate professional for their Short List, a collection of tips and recommendations on an essential topic in real estate. This week, we spoke with Vince Stoakley, owner of Pillar To Post – Home Inspection, who shared his top tips for getting ready for winter.
10. Caulk around the exterior of doors and windows in order to prevent cool drafts from entering.
9. Ensure you have the proper level of insulation in your attic to prevent energy loss.
8. Inspect your furnace including changing out its filter. This will help ensure there will be no breakdowns on those cold winter nights.
7. Drain the gas from your lawn mower or simply let it run until it’s empty. This will prevent gasoline from gumming up the tank or possibly freezing.
6. Wrap any water pipes that are on the exterior of the structure or within crawl spaces to prevent them from bursting.
5. Ceiling fans throughout a home are tilted, and rotate counter clockwise during summer months to provide home owners with an air conditioning affect. Reversing the ceiling fans direction during winter to clockwise allows the heated warm air to be pulled near the ceiling and circulate back into the living area.
4. When it snows, clean your gutters! When gutters are full, snow is then left to freeze on ones roof. This causes heavy ice to tear off gutters and cause water back up which can damage the home.
3. Winterize the sprinkler system by shutting it off. Its anti-siphon device should be wrapped to prevent freezing.
2. Before using your fireplace, have a qualified chimney sweep to evaluate and remove any build up of soot as well as ensure all components of the fireplace are working correctly.
1. Do not pay for the heat you do not use. Schedule the thermostat to produce the most heat at times when it be used the most, such as before and after work hours.
After retiring from the military in 2012, Vince Stoakley, a 20-year veteran, along with his wife, opened a Pillar To Post franchise and have found success in providing top-level home inspections.