Winter is fast approaching, which means it’s time to prepare your manufactured house for the cold weather. Winterizing your manufactured home will help prevent damage to utilities and fixtures, saving you money and allowing your home to remain in the best possible condition. To learn about how you can protect your manufactured home this season, keep reading for five tips!
1. Insulate Windows and Doors
Over time, your windows and doors may become exposed or damaged. This leads to drafts inside your home, which means your heating bill will be more expensive. When you insulate your windows and doors from the inside, heat doesn’t escape from your manufactured home as easily.
There are many ways to insulate your doors and windows. You can use spray foam insulation, which is great for filling gaps and cracks in the frames of your doors and windows. Other options include large sheets of plastic adhesive that fit over windows to keep the heat inside. No matter which insulation technique you chose, it’s best to start in the late-fall, early-winter timeframe to prevent as much heat as possible from escaping your manufactured home.
2. Check Your Pipes
If you believe that any of the pipes in your manufactured home are leaking or damaged, this is the perfect time to repair them. Additionally, freezing pipes can result in some of the most extensive and expensive damage possible during the winter, so use heat tape to winterize your pipes for proper functioning and safety for your home.
3. Have Your Furnace Inspected
Any utility that helps control the climate in your manufactured home, whether it’s a furnace, air conditioner or space heater, should be inspected annually to make sure it’s functioning properly. Before winter arrives, your furnace will be the most important of these three to inspect.
It’s important to get ahead of the game and have any necessary repairs made to your manufactured home’s furnace before you’re stuck waiting in the cold.
4. Maintain Your Skirting
Before winter sets in, you’ll want to ensure that every part of your manufactured home’s skirting is still in good condition. Cracks or dents in your skirting can lead to damage from external moisture. It’s important to have your skirting in great condition, as the skirting keeps cold air from getting under your home.
5. Check the “Marriage Line”
If your manufactured home has multiple sections, there may be a “marriage line”, which is the seal that keeps each section of the home together. This line should always be level and firmly sealed.
If there is damage on the marriage line, or it becomes unlevel, you risk losing heat which leads to bigger issues with your home. As you winterize your manufactured home, it’s a good idea to check on your marriage line and insulate if needed.
Adapted from mhvillage.com
