DIY Projects, Home Maintenance

Winterize Your Home

There are some easy, cheap ways to winterize your home. First, after the trees drop their leaves, clean your gutter of debris. This allows the melting water to flow down and away from your home.

Clean those gutters
Clean those gutters


Change the direction of your ceiling fans. They should now rotate clockwise moving the warm, lighter air down to the floor.

Clockwise direction on ceiling fan
Clockwise direction on ceiling fan


The most frustrating way to keep heat in is to use window film on the windows. Insulation film on windows can keep up to 70% of the heat in especially if you do not have double pane windows. Using heavy curtains also helps. One of the best things I did was to replace the old windows and storm windows you a to put on every fall with double-pane energy efficient windows.

Window insulation film


Check underneath you outside entrance doors to see if cold air comes in the bottom. If it does place a draft guard under the door. You can use a rolled towel to seal off the draft.

Door draft guard
Door draft guard


Change your furnace air filters to improve its efficiency.


If your windows leak around the outside edges, use rolled weatherstripping putty to seal the warm air from leaking outside. Any remaining gaps around the door or windows can be filled with caulk. If the home is older, you can pull off the moldings and fill the gaps with insulation or caulk.
Every degree you lower your thermostat you will save between 1 to 3 percent. Have you ever forgotten to turn down the heat when you left your house? For as little as $50, you can get a programmable thermostat that turns the heat up or down when you want it. Also, you can get a smart thermostat that you can control on your phone.

If your water heater pipes are in a cooler area like a basement, get pre-slit pipe insulators or batt-style wrap for your hot water pipes. If you are doing major upgrades like installing new windows or furnace, there may be federal tax credits so check with your accountant.

Insulation tube for water pipes
Insulation tube for water pipes
Herbs

Kitchen Garden

If I say to grow mint, you think spearmint. It is the most common, however, there are many other types of mints to grow in your kitchen garden. Here is a list:

  1. Banana mint with the smell and taste of bananas.
  2. I have grown chocolate mint which has the smell of chocolate. Bright green leaves with reddish stems.
  3. English mint has a sweet, strong flavor.
  4. Apple mint which is also called pineapple mint with an after taste of apple.
  5. Lavender mint is more ornamental than flavor in its use. The purple flowers look and smell like lavender.
  6. Spearmint is the most common mint. Also called lamb mint because it is used in lamb and potatoes dishes.
  7. Pennyroyal mint is known in the Roman Empire. It is a creeper so can be grown in hanging baskets.
  8. Corsican mint native to Corsica has small round leaves and fragrant flowers. It was grown next to other vegetables to enhance their flavor. It is used in the drink crème de menthe.
  9. Orange or bergamot mint has a citrus-flavored leaf.
  10. Catnip is preferred by the local cat because of the compound nepetalactone which causes many cats to go crazy.

There are over 7500 varieties of mint in the family Lamiaceae. Easy to grow, however, it can be invasive if not controlled. Easy to grow on the kitchen windowsill to use fresh in your cooking. Outside it prefers sun but can be grown in part shade. It likes to be moist.

Evergreen Trees & Shrubs

Winter Damage on Evergreens

Remember the winter damage on evergreens last spring? Winter injury is not caused by merely being cold. It is caused by cold winds and winter sun drying out the needles on mainly the south and west side of the tree. The condition is aggravated by winter thaws and getting cold again. This can also injure the roots of newly planted evergreens.

To help your evergreens thru this rough time, there are a couple of things we can talk about. Do not prune unless you are afraid of that branch coming down on the house in an ice storm.

The most important thing to do is slow water each tree before the soil freezes up. Since evergreens transpire moisture year long, it is important to have moisture in the soil. This is especially true for plants close to the house that does not get normal moisture.

If you are trying to grow broadleaf evergreens, wrap the shrub with burlap to cut down on winter transpiration.

For newly planted trees, mulch with 3 to 4 inches of straw or hay after the ground freezes. This helps insulate the soil, so it stays frozen to prevent the soil heaving. Keep the mulch away from the trunk to prevent rodent damage.