9 cold weather tips to prepare your home (and car) for below freezing temps
When freezing temperatures and cold weather are forecast in North Carolina, it’s important to keep yourself safe — and your home, too.
Properly winterizing your home, among other actions, ahead of extreme weather can go hand-in-hand to keep both you and your home warm, safe and dry.
To help you think about key steps and precautions to take as cold weather approaches, we’ve compiled several tips from ReadyNC.gov, part of North Carolina Emergency Management, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Red Cross.
Here’s what to know.
1. Properly winterize and insulate your home
Winterizing and weatherproofing your home ensures that cold air stays out — which keeps you warm inside, and can also save you some money on your heating bill.
Key steps to take when winterizing your home include:
▪ Making sure your walls and attics are properly insulated. The Red Cross recommends adding extra insulation to attics, basements and crawl spaces, especially, to “maintain higher temperatures in these areas.”
▪ Caulking or weather-stripping doors and windows to prevent air from getting in or out.
▪ Installing storm windows or covering existing windows with plastic from the inside.
Note: If you have outdoor structures, either for animals or other uses, it’s a good idea to also winterize and insulate those parts of your home as well.
2. Properly insulate pipes, or leave faucets to drip
When water freezes, it expands. And no matter the strength of your home’s plumbing or pipes, when that happens, pipes can burst.
To prevent pipes from bursting, you should take steps to insulate them and protect them from cold and freezing temperatures. The Red Cross recommends these tips, for pipes both inside and outside of your home:
▪ If you have water lines or pipes in your garage, keep your garage doors closed. This will help keep outside cold air from getting inside, and keep pipes warm.
▪ At your kitchen and bathroom sinks, open the cabinet doors to allow warmer air to circulate around the plumbing.
▪ Consider buying and using products specifically designed to insulate pipes, such as pipe sleeves, heat tape, heat cables or similar materials. You could also use newspaper, which “can provide some degree of insulation and protection to exposed pipes.”
▪ Leave your faucets at a slight drip to keep water moving through the plumbing. “Running water through the pipe — even at a trickle — helps prevent pipes from freezing,” the Red Cross says.
▪ Keep your thermostat set to the same temperature both during the day and at night. “By temporarily suspending the use of lower nighttime temperatures, you may incur a higher heating bill, but you can prevent a much more costly repair job if pipes freeze and burst,” the Red Cross says.
3. Locate water shut-offs in your home
While you should take the above precautions in hopes of keeping your pipes from freezing, there’s a chance brutally cold weather could still cause some pipes to burst.
In case that happens, you should know where to find your home’s water shut-off valves, and be familiar with how to actually shut the water off.
Depending on the layout of your home and other factors, the water shut-off valve may be near your water meter or water heater.
4. Properly maintain heating equipment
You should keep your home’s heating equipment — whether it’s a central system or something like a fireplace — clean and properly maintained all year, but especially when cold weather is possible.
“If you plan to use a fireplace or wood stove for emergency heating, have your chimney or flue inspected each year,” the CDC recommends. “Ask your local fire department to recommend an inspector or find one online.”
You should also have your central furnace and vent system “checked by a qualified technician to ensure they are functioning properly,” the CDC says.
5. Properly maintain smoke, carbon monoxide detectors
If you’ll be using heat sources like fireplaces, wood stoves or kerosene heaters, you should make sure your fire and carbon monoxide detectors are properly functioning.
Place the detectors near the area you’ll be heating. Have the detectors tested monthly, and replace the batteries twice a year.
You should also keep a functioning fire extinguisher nearby, and make sure that everyone in your home knows how to use it.
Make sure to vent all fuel-burning heating equipment to the outside of your home and keep the equipment clear of any flammable materials.
“House fires can be an extra risk, as more people turn to alternate heating sources without taking the needed safety precautions,” ReadyNC.gov says.
6. Have an easy-to-read thermostat
The CDC recommends having your home’s thermostat be one that’s easy to read, especially if you or someone in your home is 65 or older.
Keep the thermostat in a place that’s easily accessible, and check it often.
“Our ability to feel a change in temperature decreases with age. Older adults are more susceptible to health problems caused by cold,” the CDC says. “Check the temperature of your home often during the winter months.”
7. Keep a well-stocked emergency kit
A key part of keeping your home winter weather-ready is maintaining and updating an emergency kit with items that will be helpful to both you and your home if you lose power or experience another urgent situation.
ReadyNC.gov recommends keeping the following items in your home’s basic emergency kit at all times:
Water (one gallon per person per day for three to seven days)
Food (a non-perishable and canned food supply for three to seven days)
Cell phone with charger
First aid kit
Manual can opener for food
Wrench or pliers (or water meter key) to turn off water
Blanket or sleeping bag (one per person)
Prescription medications
Eyeglasses or contact lenses and solution
Seasonal change of clothing, including sturdy shoes
Toothbrush and toothpaste
Soap
Extra house and car keys
Important documents, including insurance policies, a copy of your driver’s license, Social Security card and bank account records. (It’s helpful to digitize these records and keep them on a flash drive for safe keeping and easy transport.)
Fire extinguisher
Cash and change
Books, games or cards
During the winter, add these items to your kit:
Rock salt to melt ice on walkways
Sand to create traction on walkways
Snow shovels and other snow removal equipment
Warm clothing
Extra blankets
You’ll also want to have plenty of heating fuel.
Store a supply of dry, seasoned wood for your fireplace or wood-burning stove, if applicable.
If you heat with gas, refuel before you run empty. Fuel carriers may not be able to reach you during a storm, or even for days after.
8. If you’ll be away from home during freezing weather
If you’re going to be away from your home during cold weather — perhaps at the holidays — you should follow the above steps, but also make sure to leave the heat on in your home while you’re away.
This will help keep pipes insulated. The Red Cross recommends you set your thermostat to a temperature no lower than 55 degrees, but rental properties may have higher minimum temperatures detailed in your lease agreement.
9. Keep your car winter weather-ready
While it’s important to keep your home ready for cold temperatures, and you should try to stay home when such weather is in the forecast, there’s a chance you’ll have to leave home and use your car at some point.
In addition to preparing your home for the cold, you can also keep your car ready by using these fall and winter tips from the CDC:
▪ Have your car’s radiator system serviced or check the antifreeze level yourself with an antifreeze tester. Add antifreeze as needed.
▪ Replace your regular windshield wiper fluid with a wintertime mixture.
▪ Make sure your tires have adequate tread and air pressure. Replace any worn tires and fill low tires with air to the proper pressure recommended for your car.
▪ Keep the gas tank at or near full to help avoid ice in the tank and fuel lines.
▪ Keep your car in good working order, making sure to check the heater, defroster, brakes, brake fluid, ignition, emergency flashers, exhaust, oil and battery.
You should also keep an emergency kit in your car. Include these items:
Ice scraper
Snow brush
Extra windshield wiper fluid
Extra anti-freeze
Basic automotive tool kit, including jumper cables and safety flares
Flashlight
First aid kit
Blanket
Winter weather gear, such as gloves, hats and scarfs
Shovel
Sand, salt or non-clumping cat litter (to give your tires traction if you get stuck)
Non-perishable snacks
Drinking water
A properly inflated spare tire, wheel wrench and tripod jack
Extra batteries (for your flashlight or other electronics)
Reflective triangles and brightly colored cloth (to make your vehicle more visible)
Compass
Reflective vest (in case you need to walk to get help)
Car charger for your cell phone
Fire extinguisher
Duct tape
Rain poncho
Additional resources
For more information and tips on how to prepare for extreme cold weather in North Carolina, visit readync.gov/stay-informed/north-carolina-hazards/winter-weather.
The CDC also has a helpful guide to extreme cold available at cdc.gov/disasters/winter/guide.html.
Ask the N&O
Have a question you’d like answered? Or maybe a tip or story idea you’d like to share? The News & Observer’s Service Journalism team wants to hear from you. For useful and practical information from our staff, reach us by submitting questions to our form or sending an email to ask@newsobserver.com.
NC winter storm survival guide: Tips to stay safe and warm when snow or ice are forecast
