It’s true that the Bay Area does not typically witness many blizzards or ice storms but the temperature can still drop pretty low at times.  Now is the ideal time to winterize, according to home energy experts. Here are 4 tips to get you started (quickly) saving money, eliminating hassle, and protecting your home and family.

1. Get the gunk out of the gutters!

Flotsam and jetsam have a gnarly way of accumulating in our Bay Area gutters. Everything from birds’ nests to leaves and pine needles to kids toys can muck up gutters and ultimately lead to problems like leaking, mold, and misalignment. If you live in a chillier part of town, ice and snow can actually form on the debris and warp the gutters, causing additional stresses on your home and roof. So, clean the gutters now!

2. Identify insulation inefficiencies.

Maybe you currently own a home with single pane windows, and you’re draining a tremendous amount of energy heating your home during the winter and cooling it during the hot months. Switching over to double pane glass could be a simple cost effective fix.

Or maybe your furnace’s duct work warped due to years of your “forgetting” to do the maintenance… or perhaps due to other quirky factors, such as an earthquake or an infestation of voles.

The point is: to understand how best to optimize your winterizing dollars (and time), you need to measure what’s working and what’s not working and develop a plan accordingly.

For instance, if your insulation is basically fine, don’t waste time or money improving it! Conversely, if your duct work is misaligned – and you don’t realize it – the misalignment can lead to the accumulation of moisture residue, molds, and other problems you’ll have to fix down the line. To parse what “stuff” is important, you may want to get in touch with the experienced team at Century Roof & Solar. We can provide a free consultation to help you figure out what to focus on (and what you might be able to ignore).

3. Fix that furnace!

The time to find out that your furnace is not working – or emanating some noxious or disgusting smell – is not the dead of January, when all your local HVAC technicians are busy and/or unavailable due to a local blizzard or other nasty winter weather event. Your furnace should be cleaned and tuned up every year, anyway, to ensure that the filters, wiring, and other components are all up to standard.

4. The “DIY” route can lead to surprising costs, time sinks, and frustration.

You may “not want to bother” consulting with a professional team about your winterizing because you don’t anticipate any problems. But your home is dynamic, and you may not have the experience or tools to test everything effectively. Get connected with the team at Century Roof & Solar today for a free consultation about your winterizing needs.

image credit: http://www.c21larrymiller.com/winterizing-your-home-tip-1/