Top 10 Things To Do To Protect Your Home This Winter

1. Have your boiler serviced by a registered Gas Safe engineer

2. When the weather turns cold set your central heating thermostat to 10 degrees to prevent your pipes from bursting.

3. Insulate your loft. The Energy Saving Trust recommend it’s at least 27cm thick. Not only will that make your house warmer and less susceptible to frost damage, but you could save money on heating bills too.

4. Check the lagging on all of your pipes. Exposed pipes are the most likely to freeze so the more insulated they are, the better protected they’ll be.

5. Leave your loft hatch door open, as allowing warmer air to reach the loft can stop your water tank freezing.

6. Keep room doors slightly open to allow the warm air to move around the house

7. Make sure you know where your mains water stopcock is so that in the event of a burst pipe you can turn the water off quickly reducing the amount of damage caused.

8. If you are going to be away from your house while the weather is cold ask a friend or neighbour to check the house and keep the heating on. You may even want to consider draining the system completely.

9. Preparing an emergency kit is a great way to make those small and big emergencies as easy to handle as possible. This is what you should have to hand:

• A small tool bag containing a torch, a roll of insulation tape, spare fuses, spare batteries and a screwdriver
• A radiator key
• Important telephone numbers like a trusted plumber and electrician,

10. Finally check your home insurance policy so that you have the right level of cover in place and you know the number to call in case of emergency.

As with all insurances – conditions and exclusions apply.