10.01.2018

Monthly Musts - October Home Checklist

october-blogging-challenge

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.

october house checklist


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



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14 comments

  1. This is such an important checklist. It is so important to check the safety of your house as much as possible :) Great post x

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  2. Some great tips here. It's so easy to forget the boring stuff that comes with the excitement of Autumn - sorry I know you don't, but I love it :) !

    Rach

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  3. Great ideas and tips thanks. We are so lucky to live in a new house. But it's a great idea to check out our insurance is up-to-date!

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  4. What a great tips. Such a great and very useful post for my October list. Thank you for posting and allowing us to start our month right

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  5. Good tips! Winter is coming fast so we have to get ready, plus where we are it has been abnormally rainy this year.

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  6. Thank you for sharing. These are helpful tips.

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  7. Great tips! I do always have my health check ups during the fall. very useful!

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  8. Health check ups can help with early detection should you have any issues. I always recommend it.

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  9. Great tips for important checkups! I definitely agree with everything on this list... just need to get on it!

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  10. It's great to have a seasonal list of things to keep your home up to date. These are great suggestions.

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  11. My husband is in property management and he is always talking about how important it is to clear the gutter before the winter rains. Best way to avoid roof leaks. Stay dry my friends!

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  12. We really need to do some winterizing tasks for our home. Things like cleaning out gutters and pulling out annual bushes are great ways to get your yard ready for snow. I've also been detailing our baseboards and cleaning up.

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  13. Most people do spring cleaning, but I find myself doing fall cleaning. It is one of the ways that I pass the dreary days.

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  14. Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I'll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon. Big thanks for the useful info. seamless gutters

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Interior Design blogging from a Country girl in the city. Trying to learn all I can about interior design, social media and making the best of this life.
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