Overwintering a house is the process of reopening pipes and water lines for use after leaving the building empty during the cold season. Homeowners or professionals can overwinter homes in spring after preparing them for winter to preserve them at sub-zero temperatures. Get ready to turn on the water again. First, remove the aerators from the sink and bathtub faucets.
Use your hands to unscrew them from the faucet heads. If the aerators are tight and difficult to unscrew, use pliers and turn them. Place all faucets in the house in the closed position before opening the shutoff valves on the supply lines. When you prepared for winter, you should have left the faucets in the open position.
Remember to open the shutoff valves on the water supply pipes to your refrigerator, dishwasher, washing machine and water softener, if you have one. Open the main shutoff valve of the water meter. Turn the valve slowly: a quarter of a turn every 5 to 10 seconds, recommends ASPEC Residential Services, a home inspection service. You don't want water pressure to build up in the lines too quickly, or it could leak.
After opening the valve, check if water comes out of the outside faucet. Buy a home, refinance or manage your mortgage online with America's largest mortgage lender. Winter is over, spring is on its way, and you want to make sure your house is ready for the new season. Don't forget to inspect the dishwasher, water filters, freezer and other items that were prepared for winter.
If you move to a house that has been prepared for winter or if you return to your home after an extended absence during the winter, you will have to overwinter the house to make it habitable. To reverse the process and overwinter a house that was prepared for winter by a professional service, the simplest solution is for the same professionals to return systematically to do the work that, after all, they know exactly what was done and how to reverse it. Programmable systems may have been adjusted for special settings for winter when you were away from home. Since you prepared your house for winter before leaving, you will return to a house that you need to overwinter.
If you installed a smart thermostat, it's likely that you changed your settings when you were out for the winter. Preparing a house for winter usually includes things like preparing the plumbing system so that the pipes don't freeze, unplugging appliances, and forwarding mail. If you leave your house empty without first preparing it for winter, you could end up with plumbing problems, a broken water heart, and other costly problems when you return. If you turned off the gas when you prepared your house for winter, you'll need to turn it back on when you return.
When it comes to seasonal housing projects, it's quite possible to prepare and de-winter your home on your own, but if you're not interested in following this path, you can hire professionals to do it for you. Preparing their home for winter is an important step that every homeowner must take if their home is going to be left unoccupied during the colder winter months. You can't, for example, drink tap water the moment you return, since the pipes were probably prepared for winter with antifreeze. By preparing for winter and de-wintering, you can ensure that your home isn't at risk of water damage when you're away for vacation.
In some climates where heating is not needed in winter, the gas may have been cut off at the main gas shutoff valve. The winter preparation process may have included filling drain openings with rags or seals to prevent sewer gases from reaching the house. .
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