Our Community in Fairfax County, Virginia

Here are a few tips to get your home and vehicles ready for winter:

• Disconnect garden hoses, drain them, and put them away before temperatures freeze.  The water inside of hoses can freeze, cracking the hoses.
• Check your gutters for leaves and clean them out.  Leaves falling from your trees and blown from other trees can fall on your roof, get washed into the gutters, and clog the downspouts.  Gutters filled with water are heavy and can pull away from the house.  They also freeze in the winter, producing icicles when the melting snow from the roof spills over the sides.
• Check the air pressure in the tires of your vehicles.  Tires are always losing pressure, and cold temperatures reduce the pressure even more.
• Make sure that your vehicles are filled with windshield wiper fluid, and replace the sun visor with a snow brush and ice scraper.

After a difficult day at work, you come home to find several inches of water in your home.  But the culprit isn't melting snow, rain water or even a flood.  A hose on your washing machine split, sending gallons of water rushing into your home.  Each year, washing machine hose failures cause about $100 million in damage to homes in the United States and Canada.  You can take the following precautions to reduce the chances of experiencing this loss:

• Make sure there are at least four inches between the water connection and the back of your washing machine.
• Check washing machine hoses regularly for bulges and cracks.  Keep track of the last time you inspected the hoses.
• Make sure that hose connections are secure, including the drain hose.
• Consider having a professional plumber install a single-handled valve that makes it easier to turn off the water supply to your washing machine.
• Make sure everyone in your household knows how to open and close the shutoff valve to the washing machine.
• Shut off water at the valves if you will be away from home for several days.

Taking the time to do some simple maintenance tasks around the house will not only make your home safer, it can save you money. Following is a checklist of chores to complete inside and outside your home each fall.

Outside the home

• Disconnect hoses from outside faucets. Drain them, roll them up, and store them indoors.
• Rake debris and leaves away from the sides of the house, garage, and other structures.
• Trim any trees or shrubs that touch the house.
• Clean trash, leaves, and other rubbish out from under porches and decks and from within basement window wells.
• Remove leaves from gutters and downspouts.

• Wrap insulation around pipes to help prevent freezing in extremely cold weather.
• Change the air filter on the furnace.
• Test all smoke alarms. Replace batteries if necessary.
• Pack ice cubes in the sink disposal, turn on the water, and turn on the disposal. As the ice cubes spin around, they clean the sides of the unit.
• Show each family member where the water turnoff valve is located.
• Check washing machine hoses periodically. Hoses are prone to cracking. Replace them every two or three years.
• Turn off the water supply line to the washing machine when you're leaving home for an extended period of time.
• Check water heater for leaks.
• Keep basement floor drain open and don't stack items on top of it.