Preparing Your Park Home for Winter

When the days start to get shorter and colder, it’s a good time to check your park home is ready to protect you from the wind and rain so you stay warm in the winter. Use our guide to help ensure your park home is prepared for the cold weather.

Keep your pipes cosy

Pipes bursting during winter are common, as swift freezing and thawing can potentially cause cracking and breaking. This can be prevented best by keeping your pipes warm with their own foam cardigan (called lagging), which will reduce the heat lost and insulate the pipes to prevent freezing.

Get your boiler checked

If your boiler is not maintained correctly, you could be wasting energy as well as money. Incorrect maintenance also runs the risk of your boiler leaking carbon monoxide. It is important to get your boiler serviced before winter as it could stop working if it is not maintained, leaving you without heating and with an unexpected bill for a new model.

Your park home insurance

Check your park home insurance policy is all up to date and that you’re covered for winter-related damages. It’s worth noting that wear and tear is not covered by most insurance policies, therefore it is important to ensure that your park home is well maintained especially in the lead up to winter when frost damage is more likely. Fully understanding your policy will help to give you peace of mind this winter.

Insulation

Around 25% of the heat in your park home is lost through the roof and walls, so ensure they are fully insulated to use less energy and keep your park home warm. Insulation needn’t be a vast cost, as there are many government grants and schemes for insulation installation.

Bleed the radiators

When your radiators are colder at the top than at the bottom, they have air trapped inside that’s stopping the heat from circulating correctly. It’s a good idea to bleed the radiators, to release the trapped air, allowing your radiator to run more efficiently. If you’re not sure you might be able to get help from your park's maintenance team.

Guttering

As winter draws closer, leaves will start falling from trees, meaning gutters will start to get full. Once the guttering gets blocked, water won’t be able to flow properly and will start to leak from the guttering into the roof and down the walls of your park home, leading to water damage. So now is a good time of year to ensure your gutters are free of grime and dirt to reduce your chances of water blockages.

Tree trimming

Take a stand against your trees and get them trimmed back from the house this winter. Trimming will reduce the amount of foliage dropping into your guttering, and reduce the chance of branches blowing against the property and causing damage.

Stop draughts

Chilly winter breezes will try everything to slip through the nooks and crannies of your park home. Ensure you check the edges of your doors and windows for draughts: if you find any you can either seal them with self-adhesive draught strips or ask maintenance to help you.