With winter fast approaching, many Canadians are preparing to close down their cottages for the season. While it’s important to prepare any home for winter, closing a cottage is a little different. Here are steps you can take to ensure your cottage is properly closed until you’re ready to reopen it next season.
Interior
- Regular cleaning: You’ll want to clean as you normally would before closing up your cottage. Vacuuming, dusting, scrubbing, etc.
- Store items: Store anything that doesn’t need to be left out. Towels, bedding, dishware—all these items can be put away during the winter months. If you’re worried about rodents, you can store your bedding and towels in containers or vacuum seal them.
- Clear out all perishable items: You don’t want to leave anything that can go bad in the house over the winter! Clean out your fridge/freezer and pantry before you close up for the season.
- Unplug unnecessary electronics: Unplug anything that doesn’t need to be powered during the winter in order to prevent power surges.
- Turn off the water: Turn off the main water supply and drain the water from all the appliances and pipes. Draining the water will ensure your pipes don’t freeze and burst.
- Turn down the temperature: If you leave the heat on during the winter, you’ll want to keep it at around 13°C (55°F) to prevent the water from freezing.
- Close your fireplace damper: If you have a fireplace, close the damper to prevent cold air from entering your cottage.
- Add Antifreeze: Put some non-toxic antifreeze into the toilets, sinks, and other plumbing fixtures.
- Secure the property: Close all windows and doors and ensure everything is locked. If you have a security system set up, check to make sure it’s connected and working properly.
Exterior
- Store outdoor furniture: Bring outdoor furniture into a garage or shed to ensure it isn’t worn down by the winter weather (or completely lost in a winter storm!).
- Trim trees: Heavy snow may cause branches to break during the winter months, and you don’t want those branches to fall onto your cottage.
- Check your roof: Do a quick check to see if you notice any damaged or missing shingles from your roof. Heavy snow and melting ice could lead to leaks if the shingles aren’t repaired.
- Clean the gutters: Clear your gutters so they are free of debris. If water can’t flow freely, ice dams can form and damage your roof and walls.
- Check your windows: If you notice windows are drafty, you may want to add caulking or weatherstripping to them to prevent the cold air from coming in during the winter.
- Keep an eye on the property: If you have neighbours who live in the area during the winter, you can let them know you’ll be out during the winter. You may also consider hiring a caretaker who can occasionally check in on your property.
