Do You Really Need to Winterize Your Home in California?

You and your kids love Facetiming their grandparents from the comfort of your Dana Point home. Their grandparents live in the Midwest and are expecting a pile of snow, while the weather here is beautifully mild.

While you are all chatting, they bring up their winterization plans to brace for the snow, and you mention that you weren’t planning on doing anything to prepare for the season. However, after you get off the call, you start to wonder if you really do need to winterize your SoCal home.

How to Prepare Your Home for Winter

Freezing temperatures are a rarity here in southern California, so you don’t need to winterize your home in the traditional sense. However, this season brings wind and rain that come with their own set of hazards that you want to prepare for to keep your home protected.

Do you have trees near your home? If you do, it’s important to trim branches away from your roof. During heavy winds, the branches can damage your roof, causing leaks. If you use your attic for storage, your belongings could get damaged, and even if you don’t use your attic, roof leaks can lead to mold growth, insulation damage, and even structural damage.

Falling leaves are also a potential home safety hazard. Have your kids ever stuffed an entire roll of toilet paper into the toilet and clogged it? That’s exactly what leaves can do to your gutters.

Just like a clogged toilet will lead to water spilling onto the bathroom floor, clogged gutters stop rainwater from pouring down the downspouts and away from your home. Instead, the water can overflow along your roof and the side of your house and cause leaks or even flooding.

Make sure you check on all of your exterior faucets and sprinkler systems. We mentioned freezing temperatures are uncommon, but they aren’t impossible! Poorly insulated and old pipes are more susceptible to bursting. Burst exterior pipes can cause serious water damage to your lawn, and while you love your hot tub, you are definitely not looking to add a pool to your property.

It’s also a good practice to give your indoor plumbing a thorough inspection to make sure you don’t have any plumbing disasters waiting to surprise you during the next family gathering you’ll be hosting. If you hear any banging noises from your pipes, have slow drains, or have inconsistent water pressure, you should schedule an inspection sooner rather than later.

Barker and Sons have You Covered this Winter

Winterizing your home in southern California might look different from your relatives’ routine in the Midwest, but it’s still an important part of protecting your home from water damage and other plumbing mishaps.

If your plumbing could use a winter check-up, give us a call. We’re here for you 24/7 to help prevent any leaky surprises.