Preparing Your Park Home For The Winter
Now that autumn is officially upon us, you’ve probably already begun to think about preparing your park home for the winter. Winter weather can present unique challenges for park homes and their residents. However, if you prepare your home and surroundings for the winter, then you can reduce risks to yourself and damage to your property and stay all-around more comfortable during colder weather.
To help you prepare your park home for the winter, we have put together 5 suggestions that you might find helpful.
1) Extra insulation/Stop draughts
When the colder temperatures settle in, you’ll want to do everything you can to keep the warm air indoors and the frigid air outside when preparing your park home for the winter.
Installing thick curtains or blinds in your home can provide an extra layer of insulation against the cold and stop cold air from creeping in. As park homes typically have a higher glass-to-wall ratio than standard brick-and-mortar buildings, thick curtains or blinds can make a big difference – even if you have freshly put-in double-glazed windows.
No one likes a pesky draught, and not knowing where one is coming from can be maddening when you’re just trying to relax and suddenly there’s a cool breeze. On a windy day, you can check around your windows with your hand to see if you can feel the cold air coming through. This small space for air could just be the result of loose-fitting, which can easily be tightened or adjusted.
We also recommend checking around external doors for draughts and investing in draught excluders.
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2) Ventilate your home
You should ventilate your home all year round to keep your home in good condition. Condensation damp is a result of excess moisture coming into contact with a colder surface like a wall or window. If this issue isn’t addressed, condensation damp can lead to mould and problems with your home. This effect is intensified in the colder winter months.
You should open up your house at least once a day (even for small periods of time) to refresh and move the air inside your home. Vents should also be kept uncovered as they are there to help your home breath.
Keeping your home doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice warmth but it will help you and your home feel a lot better.
3) Check your radiators
Chances are that you haven’t been using your radiators through the summer and spring so they’ve been inactive for a little while. When it’s time to turn your heating on for the first time, you should check all radiators to make sure they’re working efficiently.
Run your hands over all sections of the radiator (be careful not to burn yourself) when they’re on to make sure you can feel a good distribution and level of heat. To keep your system in tip-top condition, or particularly if you notice cold spots, you should bleed your radiators when beginning to prepare your park home for the winter season.
Further information about bleeding your radiators is readily available through a Google search or instructional videos on YouTube.
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4) Clean your gutters
After a long year and months of ever-changing weather, the inside of your home isn’t the only area that needs some TLC when preparing your park home for the winter. Debris build-up in your gutters and drains can lead to issues inside and outside your home when left untreated and can lead to ingress and structural damage.
Bad weather combined with the autumn leaves (and other materials) piling up in your gutter will stop the water from flowing freely like it’s supposed to. This will add excessive weight to the gutter and if temperatures drop and the trapped water freezes, it can cause splitting, sag or complete failure to your drainage system so remember to prepar your park home for the winter by cleaning your gutters.
5) Reduce the risk of slips
The number of slip and trip accidents during the autumn and winter is higher than any other time of year for several reasons. These include reduced daylight which impacts visibility; the presence of slippery leaves and other debris on paths and surfaces and cold weather causing ice and snow build-up.
To best way to reduce this risk is to move slowly and be constantly observant of your surroundings. Make sure your exterior areas are well-lit or try and avoid venturing outside in poor weather conditions. Also, invest in a trusty pair of shoes with a good grip if you don’t have some already.
To help make pathways and steps safer, you can grit them. Gritting a surface helps to stop ice forming and causes existing ice or snow to melt. We recommend combining gritting with the extra precautions mentioned above and other winter safety tips.
Winter is a wonderful time of year but you need to make sure you and your property are prepared so that you can enjoy it to the fullest in your park home. Ensure that you have Park Home Insurance, and carry out all precautions to help stay safe. Prepare your park home for the winter with Berkeleyparks.
