Getting Ready For The Holiday Season
The holiday season is the perfect time to spend with the ones you love. For many, that means having out of state aunts and uncles coming to visit, or hosting a house full of dinner guests.
As you begin to prepare for the celebration and add to your to-do list, we want to remind you of all the essential ways you can get your home prepped and ready. Yes, you’ll want to make sure it’s clean and that the guest rooms are prepared for your great aunt or uncle, but we are talking about the precautionary acts that could leave you making an emergency service call. So to have the most prepared home for the holidays consider these tasks:
Make Your Yard Presentable
There is going to be a lot of foot traffic over the next few days, and all the hustle and bustle could leave you with dirty floors, and poor indoor air. Make sure your entryway is ready to tackle the task by cleaning up any leaves, replacing any dirty doormats, and making sure the area is safe and clear for older guests.
Inside, consider where coats and shoes will go, and if you practice taking off your shoes inside the house, consider giving your guest house slippers so they don’t have to walk around in socks.
Clear the Clutter
A packed house can actually be a fire hazard, so before the guest starts piling in, it’s time to do a deep clean of your home. Organize any room your guest will be staying in and do a deep clean in any room that will be occupied. Vacuum under the couch, clean blinds, window shades, and window sills.
Starting your cleaning early and doing a few things a day will keep you from spending the night before scrambling to get your home guest-ready. Besides, once everyone is gone, you’ll just have to worry about surface cleaning.
Get Your Bathroom Guest-Ready
Yes, stocking up on towels and toilet papers can be necessary for the holidays, but what about the slow drain or faulty toilet handle you’ve been ignoring? These little tasks should be handled before the first guest enters the door. Doing so will save you from a significant clog or toilet issue in the middle of dinner.
If you’ve been putting off upgrading your fixtures to low-flow, now might be the time to do so. With guests continually showering and washing their hands, those savings can add up, not to mention the amount of water you’ll be saving.
Prevent and Plumbing Emergency Mishap
Not only can you fix your small plumbing issues before guests arrive, but you can also prevent any further ones from occurring, too. Prevent bathroom shower clogs by adding drain catchers to any guest bathrooms. Be mindful of leftovers in your sink. Grease, fats, and oils should always be disposed of in the trash, not the sink, and remind guests to scrape their plates before putting them in the sink.
Place garbage cans near the toilet so that guests have a place to put hand towels and other items that aren’t flushable. Take a look at your plunger and make sure it’s working and ready incase a toilet overflow occurs. All these little steps now can help prevent a major issue later.
Consider Home Comfort
One of the most essential parts of preparing your house is to make sure your guests will be relaxed and comfortable. No one wants to eat dinner in a stuffy and overheated home. With all the extra body heat, and the lengthy cooking, temperatures can rise fast, so be sure to lower your thermostat a few degrees before guests arrive. It might be chilly at first, but once the room fills up with body heat and laughter, you’ll be thankful you turned down the temp.
Clean any heating filters beforehand and schedule your yearly tune-up, if you haven’t already. If you’ve noticed uneven temperatures in your home or find that one room is always colder than the next, you might want to consider adding a ductless HVAC unit.
Though preparation can lower your chance of a heating or plumbing issue occurring, emergencies do happen. With live operators on standby 24/7, Gibson Heating & Plumbing is here to help! Call (800) 868-0232 or schedule service, today!
