Monthly Musts - October Home Checklist

October is here and I’m not happy about it either! I don’t cope well with cold, wet weather, dirty leaves everywhere and the general grumbliness that cold seasons bring. The approach of autumn also brings with it its own set of challenges for the home, so here is a list of five things you need to do to get your house ready for winter this October.

Maintain your drains

Clear your gutters and drains, autumn will bring the leaves off the trees and heavy rains so if your drains are already clogged with leaves you will be in for a bad time! Not only can clogged drains cause rising damp but blocked gutters can cause external and internal damage, this is totally preventable now but once bad weather hits the problem of a few leaves in the gutter can quickly snowball into destroyed plasterwork. As we discovered to our horror that our current house didn't have an outside drainpipe so when it rained all the water was just pouring down the side of the house.

Make sure you’re watertight

Check all your windows and your roof for damage, maintenance is important to buildings of all ages and types to keep it standing. If you have damaged windows or roof tiles you need to get an expert out to fix them asap. Damaged roof tiles can ruin your insulation and lead to damage all over your property.

Get a home health check 

Get your boiler checked, its best to have your boiler audited once a year to keep it in working order and make sure that it is safe. It is better to check your boiler earlier in the year when the engineer isn’t as busy so you can avoid your boiler breaking midwinter when the weather is horrid and the engineers are in short supply. A home’s electrics are one of the major sources of insurance claims. If you haven’t thought to have them checked in a while October is also the perfect month to get your electrics given a clean bill of health. I would always recommend that you get a registered electrician to check your home’s fuse box and wiring to ensure that it is all working properly and that you won't face any surprises in the winter months

Ensure you’re covered

Making sure you’re covered for any winter-related damage is really important. It is always a good idea as winter approaches to check that your home insurance policy offers adequate protection, you want to make sure that you’d be covered in the event of fire, flood, subsidence and theft. In addition to this you may also need to look into accidental damage or storm damage as most home cover policies won’t include this as standard.

Get your kitchen winter-ready

It's time to purge all those summer staples from the kitchen – all those remnants of salad dressing and smoothie ingredients are out! It's time to start stocking up on all the winter warmers like Cinnamon, Cloves and Ginger so you can begin creating those comforting staples. You’ll want to have on hand all the ingredients to make hearty stews and one-pots, so buy tinned essentials for the cupboard and make sure you have enough meat in the freezer so you can set the slow cooker before you leave for work and come home to the cosy smells of winter stew. If you clear your smoothie maker and salad spinners to the back of the cupboard you will have