Today I’m sharing 5 home jobs worth doing before winter arrives. The first properly cold morning of the year has a habit of revealing all the little things around the house that you meant to sort months ago. A draughty window suddenly becomes much more noticeable, the room that never quite warms up starts feeling particularly chilly and that slightly temperamental gutter becomes harder to ignore once the autumn rain sets in.
That’s why the weeks leading into winter are a good opportunity to give your home a quick once-over. You don’t need to embark on a huge renovation project. Taking care of a handful of smaller jobs now can make the house feel more comfortable over winter while helping you spot potential problems before bad weather makes them worse.
Finding out Where Draughts are Getting in is One of the Most Important Jobs to do Before Winter
Even when the heating is on, a room can still feel cold if warm air is constantly escaping. Windows and external doors are usually sensible places to start when looking for unwanted draughts.
Run your hand carefully around window frames and doors on a breezy day, and you may be able to feel where colder air is coming through. Older seals can deteriorate over time, while small gaps around frames aren’t always obvious until the temperature outside drops.
Depending on where the draught is coming from, replacing worn seals or adding a draught excluder may be enough to improve things. It is also worth checking underneath external doors, where a noticeable gap can let a surprising amount of cold air into hallways and living spaces. I added slip – on draught excluders to my draughty old internal doors a few years back – it made a big difference. I pop them back on every year when completing my list of jobs worth doing before winter.
Check Your Heating Before you Really Need It
There’s nothing worse than discovering a problem with your heating during the first genuinely cold spell, so give it a proper test before temperatures fall too far. Personally, I get my central heating serviced each October, when I have my gas safety and boiler inspection done. It gives me peace of mind that all is well with my heating for another year.
Turn the heating on and pay attention to how well individual rooms warm up rather than simply checking that the system works. If a radiator is colder at the top than the bottom, trapped air could be stopping it from heating properly and it may need bleeding. Bleeding radiators is one of the essential jobs worth doing before winter arrives.
You might also notice that certain rooms never seem to become as cosy as the rest of the house. There can be several reasons for this, from the size of the space to the amount of heat being produced within it. If you are renovating or replacing an older radiator, a BTU calculator can provide a useful starting point when choosing the right new radiator for the room, as heating requirements can vary depending on the space. I recently had a new double radiator installed in my hallway and its made an incredible difference to how warm the hall, stairs and landing feels. I wish I’d done it years ago!
It is better to notice these uneven temperatures in autumn, when you have time to investigate them, rather than halfway through a freezing January evening, so add this to your jobs worth doing before winter list.
Take Care of Those Little Exterior Repairs
Minor problems outside the house can be easy to overlook in warmer weather. Once winter brings heavier rain, strong winds and colder temperatures, they can become much more noticeable. Take a walk around the outside of your home and look at areas you might not normally pay much attention to. Cracked or peeling sealant around windows is worth addressing, as are visible gaps around exterior frames, loose hinges on gates, or failing fence panels.
The roof deserves a visual check too, although there is no need to climb up yourself. From ground level, look for anything that appears out of place, such as a slipped or damaged tile. If something doesn’t look right, getting a roofer to inspect it is safer than attempting repairs yourself.
It can feel overly cautious to deal with a small issue when it isn’t causing an obvious problem, but winter weather has a tendency to expose weaknesses that were much easier to ignore during summer.
Give the Gutters Some Attention
Falling leaves are part of autumn, but unfortunately plenty of them end up exactly where you don’t want them. Gutters can quickly fill with leaves, twigs and other debris, making it harder for rainwater to drain away from the property as intended. Clearing them is definitely one of the jobs to do to get your home ready for winter.
If you can access your gutters safely, clear out any obvious build-up and make sure the downpipes aren’t blocked. It is also worth keeping an eye on them during the next spell of rain. Water pouring over the side rather than travelling along the gutter can be a sign that something still needs attention.
Check the fittings while you’re there too. Sagging or loose sections may struggle when faced with prolonged heavy rain, so dealing with them now could save you another outdoor job in the middle of winter.
Keep an Eye Out for Damp When You Get Your Home Ready For Winter
Autumn and winter can make moisture problems around the home easier to spot. Condensation on windows doesn’t automatically mean there’s a serious issue, but persistent damp patches, staining or mould deserve attention.
Have a look around window frames, ceilings and the corners of rooms, particularly in areas that tend to be colder. Rather than simply painting over a mark, try to work out where the moisture is coming from first. A leaking gutter, damaged seal or ventilation issue may be contributing to the problem. I put dehumidifier pots on my windowsills upstairs, to prevent condensation, and I have an electric dehumidifier downstairs. Between them, this has removed mould from our home.
Rooms where moisture regularly builds up, such as bathrooms and kitchens, also benefit from good ventilation. Using extractor fans and opening windows when practical can help moisture escape rather than settling on colder surfaces. Definitely add treating damp and removing mould to your list of jobs to do before winter.
Final Thoughts on Jobs Worth Doing Before Winter Arrives
Preparing a home for winter doesn’t have to mean spending an entire weekend working through an enormous list of chores. In many cases, it is simply about noticing the small things that have changed since last winter.
Test the heating, walk around the outside of the property and pay a little more attention to the spots that already feel colder or more exposed. Sorting a draught, clearing a gutter or investigating a damp patch might seem like a minor job now, but it is much nicer to deal with these things before the coldest part of the year arrives. Finally, let me know in the comments if you can think of any more jobs to do before winter.
