Can You Do Home Repairs In The Winter?

Winter in Canada typically puts a halt to exterior maintenance as homeowners are forced to wait for more favourable weather. However, your responsibility to maintain your home does not end with warm weather, and you do not need to wait until spring to keep sprucing up your home. There are a number of interior maintenance tasks for which you can hire home repair services in Scarborough and get done during the colder months.

1. Painting Interior Walls

Painting the walls is recommended every three to five years. Even if your walls do not “need” repainting yet, it is one of the most cost-effective ways to update the look of a room if you feel that you need a change. Winter is an excellent time to have your walls repainted. Air temperature and humidity both affect how quickly paint will dry. In winter, the humidity is low, which helps the paint to dry more quickly. While the temperature is typically low, it remains fairly consistent, which helps to keep the paint job more predictable.

2. Replacing Windows and Doors

If you have a few leaky doors and windows that you would like to have replaced, winter is a good time to have it done. The caulking and insulating foams stay malleable at all temperatures, so you do not have to wait until the weather warms up. Air and water leaks are easier to identify in the winter, so a professional installer will easily be able to find and address them.

To prevent excess loss of heat, doors and windows replaced in the winter are handled one at a time. Therefore, if you want to replace all of them during the winter, it will take longer than it would otherwise. However, if you only need one or two replacements, it may be better to replace them in cold weather.

3. Installing New Flooring

Winter is a good time to install new floors, especially if you choose hardwood as your material. Hardwood boards change size in response to the humidity in the air. When the air is humid, they absorb the moisture and expand, but when the weather is dry, they lose their moisture and contract. Installing hardwood floors during the summer means that they will shrink slightly when the humidity decreases. This can cause you to have gaps in your floors that may be bigger than you anticipate. When the air is drier, there is also less chance of moisture getting trapped beneath the hardwood floor. If this occurs, it can promote the growth of mould and mildew. Moisture beneath the floor can also cause the hardwood to buckle and warp.

4. Underpinning Your Basement

The subterranean space of a basement offers unlimited potential if there is enough space to stand and move around in it. Underpinning your basement means lowering the floor level to create more living space. It requires pouring concrete footers after excavation to the desired level. You might think that it would be better to wait to dig the foundation until after spring thaw. In fact, the excavation is actually easier when the ground is still frozen rather than wet and muddy. Dry air helps the concrete to dry more quickly with the help of additives to the mixture to allow it to cure in cold temperatures.

Home Repair Services in Scarborough From Handyman Connection

Performing interior maintenance and home repairs during the winter allows you to focus on exterior maintenance during the summer. With decades of experience serving the area, Handyman Connection can perform these home repairs and many more. Find out more about all the home repair services in Scarborough we offer throughout the year and contact us for your estimate.