With winter season officially here, now (if one hasn’t done so by now) is the time to make sure that you remind your tenants to keep their heat on at least to a minimum of 50 degrees in order to keep your water lines from freezing and then exploding causing large amounts of water damage to your home or units. This is especially important if your tenants go out of town for the holidays and they want to save money on their utilities by completely turning off the furnace.
Secondly, it is just as important to detach all garden hoses from outside faucets. Next, help your tenants out by reminding them to close their storm windows in order to help them out on the their heating bills. Change their air filters.
Last, fall is over, all leaves should have fallen if not blown away by old man winter. Yet, most landlords neglect to clean their rain gutters to keep them debris free. When these gutters are full, the snow melt waters have no way of dispersing away from the home and instead make their way up between the gutters and the fascia boards causing wood rot and sometimes water leaks through the roof because the water can work its way backwards and underneath the shingles and tarpaper.
These two checks to all your properties can save you and your tenants thousands of dollars in the end in property damage.
So, the next time you decide to remove and replace old weather seals, or caulk air leaks to your property, think about cleaning the gutters and making sure the heat remains at minimum of 50 degrees throughout the winter.
Crissy and Johnny
