How to prepare your home for Melbourne winter
Melbourne winters are not extreme, but they are wet, windy and long enough to find every weak point in a house. Most of the damage I get called out for between June and August could have been avoided with a couple of hours of work in autumn.
Here is the checklist I run through on my own place, and on customers' homes before the rain sets in.
1. Clear the gutters and check the downpipes
Blocked gutters are the number one cause of winter water damage. Once leaves and grit build up, water backs up under the roof line, soaks the fascia and eventually finds its way into ceilings.
Scoop the debris out, flush the gutters with a hose and watch the downpipes while the water runs. If water pools or overflows anywhere, you have a blockage or a fall issue worth fixing now rather than in July.
2. Seal the drafts you can feel
Walk around the house on a cold, windy evening with the lights off and a candle or your hand near the frames. Gaps under external doors, unsealed weep holes in old windows and unused vents are where your heating disappears.
Door seals, weather strips and a tube of exterior sealant are cheap and make a noticeable difference to both comfort and power bills.
3. Look at the exterior timber and paint
Cracked paint, swollen door bottoms and soft window sills are early warnings. Timber that is already drinking water in April will be rotten by spring. A light sand and a coat of exterior paint buys years.
4. Check drainage away from the house
Garden beds that sit higher than the slab, blocked stormwater pits and paths that fall back towards the building all push water where it should not go. Fixing a fall or clearing a pit is far cheaper than dealing with rising damp.
5. Test the things you only use in winter
Heaters, ducted vents, outdoor lighting and sensor lights all get ignored for six months. Turn them on now so you are not chasing a repair during the first cold snap.
If you would rather have someone run through the whole list for you, that is exactly the kind of job I do in a single visit.
