A few tips and explanations of what you need to do to prepare your home in Bend Oregon for the cold, snow and ice that is part of the fun of living here.
A few tips to make sure Winter doesn't take you by surprise! 🥶🌨❄🌬
- Remove hoses from outdoor faucets since they trap water in the valve.. Even if you have a ‘Frost-free’ spigot, it only protects your when it is allowed to drain out. (See this video for an explanation: Protect Your Outdoor Faucets from Freeze Damage) If you have those collapsible or expanding hoses, you should also bring those in since the latex tubing inside doesn’t like to freeze.
- Put insulating covers over your outdoor spigots. Make sure that the foam seal is tight against the outside wall.
- Close the flaps on your foundation vents or place foam plugs in the vents. These vents are used to keep excess moisture from building up underneath your home during warmer months but leaving them open in winter may allow extremely cold air to flow under your home and freeze your pipes.
- Once temperatures will consistently be 20 degrees overnight, the ground begins to freeze and you’ll want to have your landscape irrigation system “blown-out.” Make sure to hire a licensed landscape contractor since they have the knowledge and licensing to prevent damage, avoid polluting your drinking water pipes, and fix any problems that come up. We recommend coordinating this service through Mountain Springs Landscaping (541) 420-5917 or Paradise Lawn Landscaping (541) 318-8138
- Get your gutters cleaned before temperatures start to regularly freeze overnight. Once this happens, the daytime temperatures may not be sufficient to defrost the gutters and allow debris to be removed. In some neighborhoods this could mean getting service in October. This may mean getting the service done before the last leaf or brown pine needle falls out of your trees but it will be sufficient enough to keep your gutters flowing as long as possible through the winter.
- Have a plan in place to remove snow from your driveway and walkways. And remember: City of Bend Code 5.35.020 requires snow to be removed from the public sidewalks adjacent to your property “within 24 hours after the snowfall has stopped. So buy a shovel or a snowblower and wake up your kids early to do some old fashioned ‘character building‘ or schedule routine snow removal service with an insured contractor (If you’re in a Southwest or Southeast Bend neighborhood, you can sign up with us for regular driveway snow removal)
- If your roof is prone to getting ice dams, get yourself a snow rake to keep the edges clear so that melting snow from higher on the roof can evaporate instead of building up into an icy and damaging mess. You can also hire a company like Webfoot to install long-lasting, reliable, industrial-grade heat cables to keep that area warm and free of any kind of frozen H2O. And if you’re in Bend or Sunriver and not ready to go DIY or buy expensive cables, you can hire us to come out and keep those edges clear of snow whenever t builds up to 6″ or more.
- Finally, have a good supply of hot cocoa, freshly waxed skis, a sled or two and ingredients for a hot toddy so that you’re ready to enjoy the Winter Wonderland of Central Oregon.
