A Guide to Winterizing Your Home in the Country

By John Vivian
Published on September 1, 1989
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When preparing your home for the coming winter, don't forget to clean out the chimney while the weather's still good, to avoid chimney fires.
When preparing your home for the coming winter, don't forget to clean out the chimney while the weather's still good, to avoid chimney fires.
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This DIY pump warmer uses a light bulb to keep the pump from freezing
This DIY pump warmer uses a light bulb to keep the pump from freezing
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Keep the worst of the frost out of the cellar with a computer-cooler fan.
Keep the worst of the frost out of the cellar with a computer-cooler fan.
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For extra insulation, double-wrap windows with plastic sheeting, stapled on and held with lath, inside and out.
For extra insulation, double-wrap windows with plastic sheeting, stapled on and held with lath, inside and out.
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Swifts glue their stick nests partway down unused flues in the spring and abandon them when they fly to wintering grounds. If you share your countryside with these birds, you'll need to clear the nests from your chimney in the fall.
Swifts glue their stick nests partway down unused flues in the spring and abandon them when they fly to wintering grounds. If you share your countryside with these birds, you'll need to clear the nests from your chimney in the fall.
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Keep pipes from freezing with heat tape. Apply carefully: don't let the tape twist or overlap, and secure it well.
Keep pipes from freezing with heat tape. Apply carefully: don't let the tape twist or overlap, and secure it well.
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Protect young trunks from winter winds with tar-paper trunk wrap. A loose tube of several thicknesses of poultry wire will keep rodents from debarking young fruit trees.
Protect young trunks from winter winds with tar-paper trunk wrap. A loose tube of several thicknesses of poultry wire will keep rodents from debarking young fruit trees.
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Keep chickens watered with heater bases for their waterers.
Keep chickens watered with heater bases for their waterers.
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Reserve one section of the garden for an early start in the spring by raking up a couple of raised beds and covering them with black plastic sheeting weighed down with planks.
Reserve one section of the garden for an early start in the spring by raking up a couple of raised beds and covering them with black plastic sheeting weighed down with planks.
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In late fall, trim out any limbs that have cracked or look as though they might break under a heavy ice load.
In late fall, trim out any limbs that have cracked or look as though they might break under a heavy ice load.
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Keep buckets of water thawed with immersion heaters: thermostatically controlled, waterproof stainless-steel rods containing resistance-wire coils that plug into an electrical outlet and generate heat when the temperature falls below 40°F.
Keep buckets of water thawed with immersion heaters: thermostatically controlled, waterproof stainless-steel rods containing resistance-wire coils that plug into an electrical outlet and generate heat when the temperature falls below 40°F.
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Cover hive entrances to keep out honey-hungry mice.
Cover hive entrances to keep out honey-hungry mice.
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When replacing engine coolant, tighten the clamps at each end of the radiator and heater hoses.
When replacing engine coolant, tighten the clamps at each end of the radiator and heater hoses.
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Put together an emergency supply kit in case you are trapped by winter storms. Include a CB radio, batteries, a flashlight, matches, candles, and a first-aid kit.
Put together an emergency supply kit in case you are trapped by winter storms. Include a CB radio, batteries, a flashlight, matches, candles, and a first-aid kit.
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For small engines, check the transmission oil levels, service grease fittings, and grease drive chains.
For small engines, check the transmission oil levels, service grease fittings, and grease drive chains.

If you are new to the country, your first warm season will most likely be the best (if the most labor-intensive) vacation of your life. From late spring till fall you can luxuriate in fresh garden produce and minutes-old hen eggs and can take the morning chill off the house with nothing more than a quick kindling fire in the wood stove. But as the zucchini heap up and you actually begin to tire of vine-ripened tomatoes, you’ll notice the sun rising later in the morning and setting earlier in the afternoon.

When you see that first rim of ice around the edges of a November rain puddle, country life starts to get serious. As the cold season progresses, more and more time will go into just staying even with the weather: keeping the home fires and home folks fed, the well flowing and the sink draining. The better a job you do of winterizing your home in advance, the easier it will be to get through a country winter with time to enjoy hunting or skiing or skating or ice fishing–or just sitting snug by the fire.

Winterize the Plumbing

Easily the most common problems on a country place in winter are freeze-ups in the plumbing system. At best, a freeze-up will clog a supply pipe along a cold outer wall and delay the wash. At worst, it can back up sewage and split every pipe in the house; when things thaw, you can have sagging ceilings, stained furniture, shorted wiring and a certified mess on your hands.

Cellar-located central heat will keep cellar-located pipes thawed, but if you plan to stay warm with wood, coal or any other type of space heating, your floors and everything under them will be cold. You could be melting snow for tea and hiking to the outhouse from late winter on unless you take special measures.

The water pump. First, no matter what your heat supply, be sure the water pump is frost-free. With a modern well you needn’t worry, because your water comes from a submersible push-pump located deep in the well casing. But not all country homes are so up-to-date. Until recently our place was watered by an old, low-pressure Meyers piston push-pump located just beside the well. Sheltering the pump from rain, mud and snow–but not freeze-ups–was a low pump house with a shed roof.

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