Preparing Your Home for a Winter Sale

Winter proofing your home is not only good for you and your family, but if you are selling your home, it will help to make your home warmer, cosy, and welcoming to your prospective buyers.

With house viewings being held on frosty, cold, or snowy days, the winter weather can really take its toll on your property. It is essential to keep on top of any DIY jobs and winter-proof your house, so it doesn't look neglected or poorly maintained to your house viewers.

Let's take a look at some top tips for winter-proofing your home and creating the best first impression of your house with your prospective buyers.

Draught-proofing your home

You will want to make your home feel warm and cosy as your house viewers enter your property. The last thing your viewers want to see is your central heating cranked up and pumping out heat but still feeling a distinct chill in the air as they walk around.

Draught-proofing your home can save you around £20 per year on your heating bills, so it is worth blocking any draughts while you are still living in your home. Fixing draughts can also be very inexpensive. For example, you can buy a low-cost draught excluder for your letterbox to stop chilly draughts coming in through an external door.

Check around the edges of your floors and skirting boards for cracks or gaps. Draughts are more common in older properties with exposed wooden floors. You can seal up any gaps and add a few warm rugs to help reduce heat escaping through the floorboards.

Insulate your exposed pipes

Insulating any bare hot water pipes can help to maintain your water temperature, so there will be less need to crank up your boiler for hotter water. Many homes also have external pipes outside of the house that are at risk of freezing during cold weather. You can insulate external pipework with inexpensive foam tubing that wraps around the pipes and prevents the water inside from freezing.

If your house viewers see that you have already lagged your water pipes, both inside and out, they will know that it is one less job for them to do if they decide to buy your house.

Flush your radiators

You can make your radiators more efficient by having them flushed. This is especially important if you are selling your home with an older central heating system where the amount of rust and dirt deposits has built up in your radiators over the years.

A simple way to test your radiators is to feel for any cold spots while your central heating is running. Cold spots are a sign of debris build-up that makes your radiators less efficient. Savvy house buyers who view during the winter may know to feel for cold spots, which will be a red flag for them against buying your house.

Keep your house comfortably warm during viewings

The government recommends that your home should be kept to 18 degrees Celsius or above. Otherwise, they can feel too chilly for both you and your viewers.

Remember that your viewers will be coming in from the bitter cold and be wearing their winter coats. They may want to keep their coats on while viewing your home, so don't overheat your home, or you could end up making your viewers feel uncomfortable.

Check the condition of your roof

Winter storms, high winds, and freezing temperatures can really hammer your roof. It can help improve your chance of a sale if you check your roof for slipped or missing tiles, gaps, or loose flashing that can let in the rain and cause damp and water damage to your house.

If your house has a chimney, it is important to have it checked as rain and melting snow build-up can leak in through your chimney and trickle down to cause water damage in your walls and ruin your wallpaper, plasterwork, and woodwork.

Have your roof guttering cleared out as years of dead leaves and moss build-up can cause cracks, leaks, and water backing up that can cause dampness in your external brickwork.

If you look after your house all year round, it will look after you. When it comes time to sell up and move on, making sure your house is winter-proofed will help boost the chances of your selling your home during winter.

If you are keen to sell your house this winter, do not hesitate to contact our team here.