Home Maintenance Tasks to Tackle Before Winter, From the LaMont Brothers

It’s not too late to get your home maintenance settled for the cold months. The stars of HGTV’s Buy It or Build It are here with a checklist of tune-up tasks.

The weather is cooling quickly, but there’s still time to prepare your home for the first frost. From HVAC mishaps to frozen pipes, a lot can go wrong in the winter months, costing you and your family money, time, and stress.

If you’re not sure where to start or you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed, there’s no shame in turning to the experts for a comprehensive yet manageable list of pre-winter home maintenance tasks. Chris and Calvin LaMont, the twin brothers behind HGTV’s Buy It or Build It, are real estate and home renovation experts with insights galore. We sat down with the LaMont brothers to get their best advice for how you can handle indoor and outdoor maintenance like pros.

Related: 15 Essential Home Maintenance Tasks Every Homeowner Should Know How to Do

Tasks to Complete Before the First Frost

“A lot of times we do the spring cleaning, but we also have to do fall preparation—especially in the northern states where it gets a lot colder,” says Chris. “We want to be able to keep the warm on the inside and the cold on the outside when it comes to the fall.”

Keep a clear mind going into the winter by tackling a few key maintenance concerns now. You won’t want to deal with inadequate insulation or a faulty furnace when the temperature drops below zero. Many cold-weather maintenance issues fall into one of three categories, so pay special attention to these features of your home for a seamless seasonal transition.

Invest Time in Insulating Your Home

Inspecting your insulation is an investment worth making. Not only does insulation keep you warm and cozy all through the winter, but it also helps lower your energy bill by allowing your heating system to work at a lower level, explains Chris.

“Sometimes, when we have older homes, the insulation drops down to under your proper R-value [the measure of insulation's effectiveness],” he says. “By adding it to your attic, you will save a lot of energy with your HVAC unit.”

If you’re a skilled DIY-er, you may be able to handle insulation yourself (with all the proper safety measures in place, of course), but it might make more sense to call in an expert for this fairly arduous task. Chris says to try and maintain about 15-20 inches of insulation—otherwise, you may be shivering your way through the winter months.

Related: The 10 Best Window Insulation Kits of 2023 To Stay Warm All Winter

Weatherproof Away

Weatherproofing your home can include a whole host of tasks, but the ones you want to look out for in autumn aim to keep the cold air out and the heat inside. Calvin suggests taking a look at your pipes, faucets, and windows from the inside and outside of the house to start. The goal is to seal any exterior openings and close any pipes that might freeze when met with frosty temps.

“If you want to cover up your exterior faucets with covers, you should do that going into the fall,” says Calvin. “On the exterior, you can also look around your windows and make sure if there’s any broken seals or cracks, you caulk those up. Make sure to seal around your front door … that keeps a lot of the cold out and the heat in.”

Tips

Caulking is fairly simple and can often be done DIY—just be sure to stock up on the right equipment and always wear gloves. The process is better for smaller gaps, though, so don’t be afraid to call in an expert if you find any big problems with the exterior of your home.

According to Chris, these cracks and small openings can develop throughout the year; just because your home was secure last winter doesn’t mean it’ll stay that way. If you have wooden windows or door frames, warm summer weather may cause those materials to expand, exposing gaps when the weather cools and they return to normal size. Chris lives in a historic Texas neighborhood with antique wood features, so he has to work hard to keep his home sealed when the winter rolls around.

“All the moisture is coming out of the house, which means that it’s constricting, and now you have gaps in your house,” says Chris. “You really have to make sure you caulk that outside. For me, it’s gonna be a lot of work. I’m not happy about it, but if I want to save some heat, no matter what kind of unit you have in your house, you’re going to want to be able to use that insulation to make it more efficient.”

“Every little bit of air that comes in could lower your energy efficiency,” says Calvin.

Plus, ensure your indoor pipes are warm and secure for winter by wrapping them in heating tape or foam—Calvin says these are available at low prices from your local hardware store or big-name brands like Lowes or Home Depot.

Fix Your Furnace

Even if your furnace worked fine last winter, it’s worth a quick check-up every fall, and Chris says this task is one of his winter standbys. Calling an expert to give your heating system a quick once-over could be the difference between a smooth transition to winter and a mountain of stress.

“Every single wintertime before we go in, my guys from American Standard and North Texas Air, come out and help me out and get everything ready, make sure it’s clean,” he says. “Because when it gets to that first cold, you don’t want to be left out in the cold.”

Beyond checking in on the system, another heating-related task you can tackle is checking the HVAC filter—and switching it out if necessary. Chris says this is critical to maintaining a clean, healthy, and energy-efficient home.

"“If you get [the air filters] clean, your air quality is gonna be way better in your house, but also it’s gonna make the unit more efficient and last years longer.”"

—Chris LaMont

“Make sure you check the air filters. I’m telling you, they’re the most neglected things in the house,” says Chris.

HVAC or furnace filters can build up dust and dirt over time, so they should be tended to regularly. Swapping them out is relatively simple and should be done multiple times a year, ideally. In a bind, you can clean them for a temporary improvement. Your family will thank you for it, especially when the cold means many more cozy evenings in!

Related: The 7 Best Furnace Filters of 2023

Make a Manageable Fall Plan

Fall maintenance can be a lot to tackle, but there’s no need to be overwhelmed. With a thoughtful plan in place, you’ll be able to handle every necessary task and still have time to enjoy the beautiful autumn weather. Calvin suggests starting early and pairing your autumn preparation with any summer cleanup you have on your list.

“You have a little more time living in Dallas, Texas, than you would living in Minnesota or Buffalo, New York,” he says. “When you start to put away your summer gear, that’s when you do all your checks on the outside of the house—looking for any cracks, looking for any areas where you could better insulate or better caulk.”

This method means you won’t have to spend much time outside after the temperature has dropped and can address the indoor tasks when it’s a bit more chilly. Plus, this leaves time to call in experts for any tasks you don’t want to handle before the busy season. Chris says it’s best to “take your time” but cautions to get an early jump on calling in the pros.

"“You can have the most insulated house in the world, but if your furnace isn’t working correctly, you’re going to be cold,”"

-Chris LaMont

“Go ahead and [inspect the furnace] in advance because this is the time where they’re gonna get a lot of calls, so they’re gonna be really busy. You don’t want to make that call when you’re a week out, two weeks out. Now you’re calling anybody, you’re paying more money—it’s going to be a headache.”

After you have the furnace and the outdoor tasks out of the way, you can gradually chip away at the smaller indoor tasks. There’s no need to get it all done in September—even warmer days in December can be used for those final bits of repair.

Prepare for Unexpected Maintenance Issues

No matter how much you prepare, minor home emergencies are bound to come up, and it’s best to be prepared for whatever mishaps come your way—especially when they concern extreme weather. Calvin says that “everything about home owning is preparation,” recalling a time in Dallas when the power went out during a cold weather spell.

He says to keep battery-powered heating and lighting solutions around if you live in an area that’s prone to blizzards, snowstorms, or wintertime power outages.

“In a situation like that, have a generator for your house—something small to run your lights,” says Calvin.

Related: The 10 Best Portable Generators of 2023 to Power Your Home and Important Devices in a Blackout

When it comes to maintenance-specific issues, know who to contact in case of emergencies or minor problems.

“If there are any problems that come up, if it’s a newer house and you just bought it, make sure you have that warranty book—know who has the warranties and who did the work the first time so you can get on their radar, and you can just call them. It’ll be easier,” says Chris.

Tips

If you’ve had your house for longer than your warranty period, have a plan in place for who to contact in case of a problem. Anyone from a plumber to an HVAC expert to a roofing pro could be the one to save the day when a crisis hits.

Calvin also suggests locating your electricity and water shutoff points before you need them. Instead of searching for your water valve when a flood is already happening, know where to go ahead of time. It may seem simple, but you really won’t want to wait around for a plumber when a pipe bursts.

“If you’re a homeowner, understand where your water valve cutoff is so when there’s a water issue, you can mitigate the issue as fast as possible so you don’t have extended issues that could cause further damage,” he says. “Just know where some of your shutoff valves are, know where your breakers are. Not everyone knows where some of these things are, so when it’s an emergency, they don’t know where to go to cut off the electricity, turn the power off, or turn the water off.”

Calvin says that homes often have indoor and outdoor water valves, but newer homes might only have one indoors. Take some time to locate these before the temperatures drop.

Keep Your Heat High and Energy Bills Low

When you’ve completed your list of fall maintenance to-dos and are prepared for the worst-case scenario, you may still have energy efficiency on your mind. Is there anything else you can do to keep the cold air out and your energy bills low? The LaMont brothers suggested a few ways to preserve your heating, so even at the lowest of temperatures, you’ll be warm and cozy.

“Keep certain things like door sweeps that you can put under your front door that can keep some of the air out,” says Calvin. “That’s the worst thing—when you’re paying so much money because all your systems in your house are working too hard because your home is not properly insulated or weatherproofed.”

When in doubt, let the sun in. Allowing the sun to flow through your windows while you’re away will leave every room just a little bit warmer and will shave precious money off your bill at the same time. As Calvin says, “You can’t buy sunlight.”

“Open the blinds and let some light in, and that will warm the house and allow it to be a little bit easier for your house to warm during the day,” says Chris. “So there are some small things that you can do, and then there are bigger things—and if you can’t do it, make sure you have the right professional to do those.”

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