Related stories and tips
Before you settle into the sofa in front of a roaring fire, remember that fall also means getting the house ready for months of cold, rain, slush, ice and snow.
With a change in the length of daylight hours, outdoor and indoor pets naturally begin to grow thicker coats and build up body fat. The animals instinctively prepare for the season when food is scarce and more difficult to hunt. Today's pets are fed regularly, but battling the cold means they need extra energy.
On the Web
Monday, November 8
Tips help winterize your house, apartment
Gannett News Service
Homeowners and apartments dwellers will benefit by getting their space inside ready for winter.
- Remove and store any air-conditioning units. If you can't, clean the filter, cover the outside with an air conditioner cover and close the vents.
- Clear obstacles from the heat registers. Heat can fill your home only if it has a chance to flow. Move the sofa, pull back drapes and make sure registers are unobstructed. Use a vacuum attachment to clean dust and anything else that might be blocking registers. Buy an air deflector, an inexpensive scoop-shaped device that attaches to a register, typically with magnets, if you must place a piece of furniture over a register.
- Make sure radiators are free of obstacles. To improve efficiency, put foil-covered cardboard between the radiator and wall, so you heat the room more than the walls.
- Close registers completely and shut the door in a room that's rarely used.
- Change or clean the furnace filter monthly.
- Maintain an indoor temperature of at least 65 degrees to prevent frozen pipes on frigid days; 68 degrees on the thermostat when you are home. People who aren't elderly or sick still will feel comfortable. (Add a sweater before turning up the heat if you're healthy but still chilly.)
- Put in a programmable thermostat to automatically turn down the heat when you don't need it. You can cut 10 percent from your bill by turning it back for eight hours within every 24 hours.
- Install a carbon monoxide detector if you don't already have one. It could save your life.
- Buy window coverings. Closing blinds and drapes at night keeps cold air out. Opening them during the day when it's sunny helps heat the house.
- Tape up plastic sheeting, which comes in window insulation kits that you can install with a hair dryer, to seal out drafts if you don't have storm or double-pane windows.
- Fill in holes and cracks around doors and windows, electrical outlets, entryways for plumbing and wiring, fireplace dampers and recessed lighting. Hardware stores sell outlet insulation kits.
- Wrap your water heater with an insulation blanket. Heating ducts and hot water pipes also can be wrapped with insulation.
--
(Contributing: Rockford (Ill.) Register Star; (Bridgewater, N.J.) Courier News, Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, Iowa City (Iowa) Press-Citizen)
NEWS SERVICE MULTIMEDIA 
