Winter Home Maintenance Tips

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Those cold and snowy winter days will inevitably arrive just like clockwork. Here are some tips to get your property winter ready:

1. Heating Check-Up

Have your heating system serviced by a qualified professional. A gas furnace should be serviced every two years and an oil furnace every year. Change your furnace filter because a dirty filter will cause inefficiency in a forced air heating/cooling system.

2. Chimney Sweep

Ensure your fireplace (or any gas, oil, wood or coal heating appliance), chimney and vents are clean. A regular maintenance schedule can help you steer clear of chimney fires and prevent carbon monoxide from entering your home.

3. Gut The Gutters

Leaves and other debris can collect up in your eavestroughs over the fall. Blockage causes all types of trouble and can even trigger ice dams. Ensure that downspouts extend at least six feet from your home’s foundation.

4. Repair The Roof

Roof repairs should be made before the temperatures drop and the damp weather makes proper repairs almost impossible.

5. Seal It Up Tight

Look for any cracks in your home that need to be repaired. All exterior windows/doors should be closed tightly and repair, or replace weather-stripping as needed. Take down your insect screens so that your home’s heating system can do its job and keep the glass condensation-free.

6. Check Your Alarms

Help prevent a fire, or carbon monoxide poisoning in your home by regularly changing the batteries in these detectors. The Office of the Fire Marshal recommends replacing smoke alarms every ten years, or when it has exceeded the manufacturer’s recommended life cycle. Remember, a carbon monoxide detector is now required to be in every home and batteries replaced every six months. Make sure they are positioned beside sleeping areas.

7. Maximize Hot Air

Once your furnace is on, reverse your ceiling fans so that the blades run in a clockwise direction. Energy Star recommends this tip to help push the hot air down into the room.

8. Turn Off Exterior Faucets

Frozen pipes are a nightmare. Avoid this by draining all the remaining water, turning off all the exterior faucets and disconnecting garden hoses.

9. Winterize The Backyard

Prepare your gardens, cover and protect bushes and young trees and ensure that you’ve safely stored away all outdoor furniture and kids toys.

10. Take Inventory

Make sure you have plenty of the winter essentials on hand. Salt or sand for ice melting and a good shovel or snowblower are must-haves for Canadian winters.

Kimmé Myles

Matching her knowledge of Toronto’s eclectic mix of central core neighbourhoods and impassioned by her diverse mix of buyers and sellers, Kimmé is naturally motivated to create a positive and professional experience. Kimmé does her homework and knows her inventory. She is genuine, honest and a straight shooter. Nor is she afraid to think “outside the box” as she employs creative strategies to make dreams become reality.

Born and raised in Toronto and coming from a successful fashion background in design and management, Kimmé could not have met a better match for her entrepreneurial skills than by working in Real Estate. Inspired by her father, well known Toronto clothier to the stars, “Lou Myles”, she learned from a very young age to work hard and strive for excellence.

Licensed since 2005 as a full time Sales Representative and a Broker since 2016, she continues to be proud to be affiliated with the Toronto office of Sotheby’s International Realty Canada and to be part of the highly respected world renowned global luxury brokerage, Sotheby’s International Realty.

Kimmé has received numerous sales awards throughout her career including the prestigious Gairdner, Diamond and President’s Awards. She has completed extensive negotiation training and is among a select group of realtors in Canada to hold the Master Certified Negotiation Expert (MCNE) Designation and the Certified Negotiation Expert (CNE) Designation. In addition, she is a member of the prestigious U.S. based Institute of Luxury Home Marketing and also carries the Luxe – Luxury Listing Specialist Designation. She holds the SRS Designation – Seller Representation Specialist and the SRES Designation –Senior Real Estate Specialist – both accredited programs through NAR – The National Association of Realtors, USA.

Entrusted with the life choices of her clients, Kimmé is truly honoured to have the opportunity to serve and assist others and does so with integrity, commitment and enthusiasm.

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