What does that mean, to winterize your home? We winterize boats, RVs, and storage. Most, and likely you, do not winterize your home.
Texas is a weather monster. The temperatures and forecast are all over the place year-round. Extreme heat, humidity, and never-ending sun in the summer months. Drastic overnight changes from nice & sunny to freezing overnight in October.
All of this takes it’s toll on how your home is sealed up. Caulk splits, dries out, cracks, and falls apart. Paint fades and chips. Walls start to show cracks. Brick and mortar separate leaving gaps right into your walls.
All of these become entrance points for pest and drafty air. So lets first talk about the pests, the bees, the bugs, the ants, rats, mice, and squirrels. I did almost 100 bee removals from homes this year. You read that correctly, almost 100 bee removals at the expense of the home owner. Bees only need a bee size hole to come to start a new hive. I tell people often when on bee removals, if you like your home, bees will love it.
This drastic change from summer heat to overnight into freezing temps sends all of these critters and creatures looking for a warm shelter out of the wind and weather. What better place than an actual home, your home? Have you heard the running back and forth at night in the attic? Yep, rodents looking to stay warm for the winter. Rats, mice, and squirrels chew anything and everything in a home. They make their beds and nests in your walls and attic, the insulation, and whatever you have put up there in the attic to store.
What can you do? Well, have dcandhconstruction.com come out to caulk where brick or stone meet siding. Your builders do not do this, so do not assume your brand new home is exempt. Look at where your brick or stone meet the siding. You can see right up through there into the wall. This is a common entrance point for bees and other pests. Replace caulk around windows, doors, along the eave of your home. Find the gaps in the ridges of your roof giving access into your attic and eaves. Weep holes in the brick should be filled with steel wool, and replaced annually. Windows and doors should be addressed this time of year with caulk.
Doing these things will have an immediate impact on improving the energy efficiency of your home as well. You will be saving money in a couple of directions: pest control services, wear and tear on HVAC units, and on energy bills.
Would you like a resource for winterizing your home?
