How Do You Get a Pacific Northwest Home Ready for Winter?

Most Clark County winters bring more rain than snow, along with windstorms and, every few years, a hard freeze. Those three are behind the home claims we see between November and February, and a weekend of fall maintenance heads off most of them. Here's the list we'd work through ourselves, most important first.

What causes the most winter damage around here?

Water, by a wide margin, and usually not the dramatic kind. It's a clogged downspout dumping a season of roof runoff against the foundation, or a hose left on the spigot through a cold snap. Either one takes an afternoon to prevent and a claim to fix, which is why the list starts with water.

Start with the water

• Clean the gutters and downspouts so heavy rain drains away from the house instead of pooling against the foundation
• Check whether the ground slopes away from the house, and clear leaves out of any yard drains
• Extend downspouts far enough to discharge past the foundation rather than beside it
• Find your main water shutoff, make sure it turns, and show someone else in the house where it is

The last item costs nothing and makes the biggest difference when something goes wrong. Whether you end up with a wet floor or a wet house usually comes down to how long it took someone to find the valve.

Then look up at the roof

Replace missing or damaged shingles, and cut back any branches hanging over the house. Our windstorms bring limbs down every winter. A branch on the roof is a nuisance. A branch through the roof is a water claim, because most of the cost comes from the rain getting in over the next week.

Before the first hard freeze

• Disconnect and drain outdoor hoses, then shut off the water to outside spigots if your house allows it
• Wrap exposed pipes in unheated spaces like a crawlspace, garage, or attic
• If you travel in winter, keep the heat at 55 degrees rather than off, and have someone check the house
• Test the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, since everyone spends more time indoors with the heat running

While you're at it, check the policy too

Fall is also a good time to pull out your homeowners policy and check whether the dwelling coverage still matches what it would cost to rebuild today, at today's labor and material prices. Rebuild cost isn't what you paid for the house or what it would sell for, and it's the number that decides whether a claim covers the whole job. Keep in mind a standard policy doesn't cover flood, and around here flooding usually means runoff rather than a river. If water tends to pool on your lot, it's worth a separate look at flood coverage.

If you're not sure whether something on this list would be covered, give us a call. It's a common question and a short conversation, and we'd much rather have it in October than in January.