MAINTENANCE Shoring up house against the cold

Don't forget to add a little moisture to the air.
NEWSDAY
Winter's big chill can stop your furnace, freeze your pipes and make drafty windows feel like wind tunnels. It can turn the bottled water you keep in the basement into ice and cause the canned corn stored in your garage to burst. In short, it can leave your house out in the cold.
Some things may be beyond your control. If your pipes freeze or your furnace poops out or your water heater stops working, your best bet is to call a professional contractor. But there are plenty of measures you can take to bolster the home front. From insulating water pipes to plugging in electric space heaters, here are some ways to cope when Mother Nature turns a cold shoulder.
Warm up your pipes
If your kitchen or bathroom sink was installed along an exterior wall, water-supply and drainage pipes could be susceptible to freezing. Open the cabinet door under the sink so heat from the room can warm up the cold space. Wrapping the pipes and trap -- the U-shaped portion of the drain -- with fiberglass also helps.
Water-supply pipes in basements or crawl spaces should be insulated. Foam insulators are available for about $1 for 8 feet. Seal the gaps around areas where pipes and vents enter the house with an expandable foam. Cans of such foam come with an extension nozzle for filling tight gaps. The foam goes on soft and hardens in eight to 12 hours. Any excess hardened foam can be trimmed away with a utility knife.
Don't use this foam around the exterior frames of windows and doors, however. It can expand and cause the frames to lift away from siding. Instead, if the weather permits, apply a bead of caulk around the frames to seal cracks and crevices.
Faucet fixes
Pipes that run along foundation walls to outside faucets should be equipped with shut-off valves. Turn off the valve and open the faucets to drain any water remaining in the pipes. If shut-off valves are not in place, wrap the pipes with soft-foam insulation or stuff fiberglass insulation in the spaces where the pipes exit the house. Then, open any faucets that the pipes supply with water about a quarter turn to allow a slow drip. Letting water move slowly through the pipes can prevent freezing. Use an empty bucket to catch water dripping from outdoor faucets.
Place specially designed faucet covers over outside faucets to protect them from cold air, high winds and freezing temperatures. These polystyrene covers cost about $4 each and are secured to the faucet with a J-hook and a wing nut. They can be reused for several winters.
Dodging drafts
A number of simple tasks can eliminate drafts and keep the cold outside where it belongs. Line your windows with plastic sheeting. Replace the weatherstripping around doors and windows. Seal exterior gaps around pipes and vents with expandable foam.
Insulation kits for sliding glass doors and drafty windows cost about $10 and are especially effective. They come with double-sided tape that is applied to each side and the lower portion of the window frame. You simply unroll the plastic sheet, which has an adhesive that secures to the top of the frame, and trim it to cover the glass. Once the sheet is in place, a blast of warm air from a hair dryer tightens the plastic to near-crystal-clear.
This sheeting is surprisingly durable, too. When tested on one interior window last winter, the plastic remained tightly in place until early August.
Draft dodgers are an old-fashioned but effective method for eliminating drafts. These long tubes of fabric fit at the bottom of door thresholds and on windowsills. Instead of buying them, you can make your own. Roll a couple of old towels together lengthwise and tie them tightly with string. Stuff each end into an old sock, then place the homemade draft dodger along the track of a sliding glass door. It works -- and you can't beat the price.
Another nifty indoor insulator is designed for light and receptacle sockets on the inside of exterior walls. You'd be surprised how much cold air seeps in through an electrical box -- to check, just remove the cover plate and run your open hand across the opening. You can stop the cold by placing a thin layer of precut foam over the opening, then reattaching the cover plate.
Each package contains about 20 foam pieces -- 10 for switches, 10 for receptacles -- and costs less than $5.
Back to the hearth
While you're waiting for a service person to fix the furnace, you can pull on thermal underwear and fleece-lined slippers, and build a fire in the fireplace or stoke up the wood-burning stove. But using these alternative heating sources means taking some precautions.
If you haven't used your fireplace or wood-burning stove recently, or if they haven't been inspected, it's not a good idea to suddenly start using them. You risk carbon monoxide poisoning if fireplaces and wood-burning stoves are not properly ventilated.
Also, masonry chimneys can develop cracks, creosote deposits or crumbling mortar.
If you have any doubts about the condition of your fireplace or stove, have a chimney sweep or mason inspect it before firing up the logs.
Be sure to burn only wood in the fireplace. And have a fire extinguisher nearby.
Plugging in
If you decide to use space heaters for extra warmth, it would be wise to stick to electric ones. Indoor heaters that depend on fossil fuel such as oil or natural gas must be properly vented to the exterior of the house.
This is a job that most homeowners probably aren't equipped to do. But before you plug in an electric heater, read the manufacturer's instructions and follow them. Make sure the heater is placed on a steady base away from combustible products and is plugged into an outlet that can handle the load.
And if electric blankets are your thing, be careful before you go under cover. Studies show that the internal coils of blankets 10 years old or older are prone to failure and can start fires.
If you have any doubts about the condition of the blanket, toss it and buy a new one.
And remember never to sit or lie on an electric blanket, because this can damage the internal coils and expose the heating element. When the blanket is not being used, turn it off.
Think tanks
Most oil-delivery companies use an additive to keep oil stored in outdoor residential tanks from "gelling" during freezing temperatures.
Check with your oil provider to make sure an additive was included in your latest delivery.
Items stored in the garage can freeze easily in frigid temperatures.
Move paint, bottled and canned foods and beverages as well as liquid soaps and detergents to warmer storage areas.
If you haven't drained your gas-powered garden tools, you can still do it.
In addition, tune up the snow blower and spray a little WD-40 on the scoops of snow shovels.
Humidity helps
It's probably a good idea to buy a couple of room humidifiers if you don't have any.
In winter, the air inside your house gets very dry, and unless your furnace has a built-in humidifier or you have a separate whole-house humidifier, you're probably living in desertlike conditions.
Moist air is easier to heat, and it makes things more comfortable at this time of year. Using a few cool-mist humidifiers, which cost about $20 each, can add much-needed moisture and help you breathe easier.
Basement drains
If you live in a community with a sewer system, be aware that basement drains can dry up and toxic sewer gas can enter your home.
Pour warm water with a little vegetable oil added into the basement drain. The oil will slow the evaporation of the water.
Frozen water in the basement drain likely means the sewer vent, which exits through the attic to the roof, also is frozen.
Insulating the sewer vent or installing a freeze-resistant vent might be necessary. That's when you call a plumber.
Remove portable air conditioners from windows or wrap the exterior portion with plastic sheeting secured by duct tape.
If you have central air conditioning, wrapping the outdoor condensing unit with nylon tarps will help protect the fan motor and electrical parts from moisture.