Getting Your Home Ready for Winter

There’s a particular kind of comfort in a home that’s ready for winter: the heat comes on without a hitch, the windows don’t whistle, and you know exactly where the flashlight is when the power flickers. Getting there doesn’t take a big budget. It takes a free weekend in the fall and a short checklist.

This guide walks through the five areas that matter most: drafts, heating, pipes, safety alarms, and emergency supplies. Start wherever your home needs the most attention.

Find and seal drafts

Drafts make a room feel colder than the thermostat says and make your heating system work harder. Finding them is easy:

• On a breezy day, hold a lit incense stick or a strip of tissue near window frames, door edges, electrical outlets on exterior walls, and where pipes or cables enter the house. If the smoke or tissue moves, you’ve found a leak.
• Look for daylight around closed doors, especially at the bottom.

Then fix what you find:

1. Weatherstripping around doors and operable windows seals the moving gaps.
2. Caulk seals the stationary cracks, like where a window frame meets the wall.
3. Door sweeps close the gap at the bottom of exterior doors.
4. Foam outlet gaskets sit behind outlet covers on exterior walls.
5. Window insulation film is an inexpensive temporary option for older, single-pane windows.

An example draft-sealing budget

Here’s a round-number example for a small home, just to show the scale. Actual prices vary by store and region.

• Weatherstripping for three doors: about $20
• Two tubes of caulk: about $10
• One door sweep: about $10
• A pack of outlet gaskets: about $5

In this example, that’s roughly $45 for a project that can make the whole house feel noticeably warmer.

Check your heating system

Whether you heat with a gas furnace, a heat pump, a boiler, or electric baseboards, early fall is the time to make sure everything works.

• Replace the furnace filter and set a reminder to check it regularly through the season.
• Turn the heat on for a test run before you really need it. A dusty smell for a few minutes is common at first; a persistent burning or gas smell is not.
• Clear space around heaters and the furnace. Keep anything that can burn at least three feet from heating equipment, a rule the U.S. Fire Administration’s heating fire safety page emphasizes.
• Schedule a professional inspection for fuel-burning systems. A technician can check for cracks, leaks, and proper venting, which matters for carbon monoxide safety.
• Use space heaters with care. Plug them directly into a wall outlet, keep them away from bedding and curtains, and turn them off when you leave the room or go to sleep.

If you use a fireplace or wood stove, have the chimney inspected and cleaned before the first fire of the season.

Protect your pipes

Frozen pipes can burst and cause serious water damage. A little prevention goes a long way:

1. Disconnect and drain garden hoses, and shut off outdoor faucets from the inside if you have a shutoff valve.
2. Insulate exposed pipes in unheated spaces like crawl spaces, garages, and attics with foam pipe sleeves.
3. On very cold nights, open cabinet doors under sinks on exterior walls so warm air can reach the pipes, and consider letting a faucet drip.
4. Keep the thermostat at a steady temperature, including when you travel.
5. Find your main water shutoff valve now, label it, and make sure every adult in the house knows where it is.

Test smoke and carbon monoxide alarms

Winter is when people spend the most time indoors with heating equipment running, so it’s the right moment for an alarm check.

• Test every smoke alarm and CO alarm by pressing its test button.
• Replace batteries if your alarms use replaceable ones, and note the manufacture date on the back. Alarms don’t last forever; follow the manufacturer’s replacement guidance.
• Make sure you have CO alarms if your home has any fuel-burning appliance or an attached garage. Place them near sleeping areas.
• Know the symptoms of carbon monoxide exposure, which can include headache, dizziness, nausea, and confusion. The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s carbon monoxide information center explains warning signs and prevention.

Never run a generator, grill, or camp stove indoors or in a garage, even with the door open. If a CO alarm sounds, get everyone outside to fresh air and call 911.

Build a simple winter emergency kit

Winter storms can bring power outages and icy roads that keep you home for a day or more. Ready.gov’s guide to building a kit is an excellent starting point. A basic home kit might include:

• Water and shelf-stable food for several days
• Flashlights and extra batteries (safer than candles)
• A battery-powered or hand-crank radio
• A first aid kit and a supply of any needed medications
• Warm blankets, hats, and gloves for everyone
• Phone chargers and a portable power bank
• Supplies for pets, if you have them

Keep a smaller version in the car, too: a blanket, a scraper, a small shovel, snacks, water, and a phone charger.

Your winter-ready checklist

Here’s everything above, condensed into one list you can work through over a weekend or two:

1. Seal drafts with weatherstripping, caulk, and door sweeps.
2. Replace the furnace filter and test-run the heat.
3. Schedule a heating-system and chimney inspection.
4. Drain hoses and insulate exposed pipes.
5. Locate and label the main water shutoff.
6. Test smoke and CO alarms; replace batteries as needed.
7. Assemble or refresh your home and car emergency kits.

Settle in with confidence

Once these tasks are done, you can enjoy the season knowing your home is ready for it. For a year-round view, see The Seasonal Home Maintenance Checklist Every Household Needs, and grab the printable seasonal checklist on our Guides & Tools page. If you’re looking for cozy, low-cost finishing touches, try 12 Small Ways to Make Your Home Feel More Comfortable.