Is your home ready for winter?
Most parents have school runs, work, packed lunches and a hundred other things on their minds. So getting your house prepared for winter often falls way down the list. Until one morning… you realise your heating won’t come on.
Here’s the problem:
Winter takes its toll on a family home. Freezing weather reveals every vulnerability — from drafty windows to aging pipes to an exhausted boiler.
The good news? A simple checklist fixes most of it in a weekend.
Here’s What’s Inside:
- Why Winter-Proofing Pays Off
- Moving A Radiator? Do It Before The Cold
- The Busy Parent’s Winter Checklist
- Quick Wins For The Kids’ Rooms
Why Winter-Proofing Pays Off
Heating a family home is not cheap. And it isn’t getting any cheaper.
Between October and December, the energy price cap went up by 4% to £1,723 per year for the average household. That’s cash escaping through every crack in your walls, windows and doors.
But money is only half the story…
Living in a cold damp home can impact your family’s health. Children catch more coughs and colds. Mould nests in corners. Sleep is disturbed. Winter-proof your home to keep it warm, dry and safe — and help keep your bills down too.
Win-win, right?
Moving A Radiator? Do It Before The Cold Sets In
Many parents schedule a room switch-up in the fall. The nursery grows into a big kid’s bedroom. The playroom transforms into your new home office. And that’s usually when the radiator finds itself in the wrong place – behind a bed or closet.
Here’s the thing…
Hidden behind furniture a radiator cannot do its job efficiently. Heat will build up behind the furniture, your room will stay cold and your boiler is wasting energy.
Relocating a radiator solves it. However, it’s not a simple weekend task. It involves draining your system, cutting pipes and rerouting them before you need to refill it and balance your heating system again. If it’s done incorrectly, you’ll have leaks or air in your system when you need warmth the most. For these reasons it’s worth hiring a professional heating engineer near me and scheduling your radiator relocation before winter hits. Tradespeople get extremely busy when the cold weather arrives, so aim to have your heating engineer come over in autumn.
Tip: When they’re over, have them inspect your other radiators while they’re there. Hitting two birds with one stone.
The Busy Parent’s Winter Checklist.
Ok onto the checklist. You don’t have to do this in one day. Choose a few jobs each weekend and tackle the 5x jobs below.
Get Your Boiler Serviced
Your boiler is your best friend when it comes to your house during winter. If it stops working in January you’ll feel every member of your family feeling down.
An annual service ensures your boiler is safe to use and running efficiently. They can detect minor issues before they become large (and costly) problems. Most boiler manufacturers also require an annual service for your warranty to remain valid.
Don’t forget your carbon monoxide alarm either. Check it when your boiler is serviced so you only have one reminder in your diary. Whilst you are there, fit a new battery. Takes 30 seconds and could save a life.
Bleed Your Radiators
Are your radiators warm at the bottom but cold at the top?
That means there’s air trapped inside. Bleeding them is simple:
- Turn the heating off and let the radiators cool
- Put a cloth under the bleed valve
- Turn the valve with a radiator key until you hear a hiss
- Close it as soon as water starts to drip
- Check your boiler pressure and top up if needed
It takes about 10 minutes per room. And the difference is huge.
Protect Your Pipes
This is the one most parents forget…
Frozen pipes can burst and lead to water flooding inside your home. In 2023 insurers received roughly 12,000 burst pipe claims caused by the cold weather — and the average payout per claim was over £17k.
That’s some next level stress over something really easy to prevent. Buy some foam lagging to cover any pipes in your loft, garage or under your sink. It’s inexpensive and available at all DIY shops.
Make sure everyone in your home knows where the stopcock is. If you do get a pipe bursting, you can shut off the water quickly and save your floors and ceilings.
Block Out The Draughts
Draughts are sneaky. You can’t see them, but you can feel them.
Feel around windows, doors, letterboxes and loft hatch. Stop up anywhere that you think has cold air coming through. Draught excluders, self-adhesive strips and some sealant are all inexpensive solutions that help retain heat.
Here’s a handy tip. Hold a lit candle near your window frames on a breezy day. If the flame flickers, congratulations. You have discovered a draught. (Ensure the candle is safely out of reach of small hands!
Clear The Gutters
Leaves in your gutters during Autumn prevent rainwater from flowing away. Overflowing water can run down walls and cause dampness in your house. During cold weather, it can freeze causing the gutter to crack.
Clean out the gutters after most of the leaves have fallen. Hire someone if you don’t feel safe climbing a ladder. It’s a small price to pay to prevent a much larger (messier) problem down the road.
Quick Wins For The Kids’ Rooms
Children’s bedrooms require special consideration. They spend many hours in their bedroom — sleeping, playing and studying.
Here are a few quick wins:
- Thermal curtains: Prevents warm air from escaping room during night and stops cold air from window.
- Carpet on hardwood floors: Wood or laminate flooring conducts away heat. A thick rug will warm up the room immediately.
- Furniture placement: Do not put beds and toy boxes next to radiators so heat can circulate.
- Thermostatic radiator valves: These allow you to control the temperature of individual rooms. Bedrooms are generally comfortable at 16-18°c overnight.
Easy peasy. None of these things are expensive, but they all combine to dramatically affect room comfort.
What if your only available wall is behind the bed?! Relocating a radiator to a more convenient location could be the best home improvement you make this year.
Your Winter Game Plan
Winterizing your family home doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Taking care of a couple small things now can save you money, hassle and chilly mornings down the road.
To quickly recap:
- Book your boiler service early
- Sort out your radiator layout (including moving a radiator if it’s blocked)
- Bleed your radiators
- Lag your pipes and find the stopcock
- Seal up the draughts
- Clear the gutters
- Warm up the kids’ rooms
Begin with the tasks most important to your home. Then check them off one weekend at a time.
Before you know it, your home will be warm, cosy and battle ready for whatever winter throws its way.