Mobile Home Winter Checklist

Winter is here! Make sure your home is prepared for the harsh temps by following the tips below.

Outdoor Checks

It's always important to check the skirting on your mobile home and right before winter is a great time to do this. Skirting acts as an insulator for your home so make sure there is no damage or holes. Animals may try to find warmth and shelter under your mobile home, so any areas of concern in your skirting need to be fixed or replaced. Keeping your home well insulated also keeps your energy bills in check.

Check and clean your gutters. This will help keep water off your roof. You may want to add extensions to your gutters to make sure that water is flowing away from your house to avoid flooding.

Indoor Checks

The furnace is the most important appliance to inspect in your manufactured home before winter arrives. Make sure everything is working properly because you do not want to discover that it's not working when it's freezing outside. If you have an old thermostat, you may want to get a new one. Thermostats today can connect to your smartphone so you can control your home's heat settings while you are away. Also getting an energy-saving thermostat is a great cost-effective measure.

Now is also a good time to check all your smoke detectors to make sure all the batteries are good. The smoke detectors in your manufactured home should be checked once a month and batteries replaced once a year. Burners and space heaters with kerosene are not ideal for warming. These can cause fires and also asphyxiation from gas and smoke.

Also, consider adding window treatments that would help insulate the windows in your mobile home. Make sure all seals are in working order around all windows and doors. If needed, consider replacing old weatherstripping to keep your home as insulated as possible from the elements as possible.

Plumbing

Lastly, be sure to check all your plumbing and pipes to make sure there are no areas that are open to the cold. You don't want a pipe bursting in the freezing weather. Take some extra measures to winterize your pipes with insulation. This will give your plumbing some additional protection, especially if you go on an extended vacation to warmer climates.

Takeaway

It's important to make sure your mobile home is ready for winter. You don't want abnormally high energy bills or for anything to break that could have been inspected before the cold weather arrives. It's not hard to do these things and you'll be thankful you did when you are nice and warm in your mobile home.