How to prepare a country house for winter

The main harvest has already been harvested, but there is still a lot of work on the site. Before the first frosts, everything should be completely removed from the garden, in particular, late varieties of white cabbage. Pick up the trash and mow your lawn to make it less of a hassle in the spring. These are the current autumn moments that are well known to all summer residents..

We also advise you to stock up on berries, including rose hips, which will be a source of vitamins for you throughout the winter. Soon there will also come a period of picking viburnum and mountain ash, which after the first frost will become especially tasty, losing the bitterness inherent in these berries..

When preparing a summer cottage for winter, one must not forget about the following points:

• Delicate perennial plants should be covered from the coming frosts, at the first stage, you can pour a small layer of mulch, and then, as the snap gets colder, add more.
• A stock of firewood will not hurt. Most likely, you will come to the country house to celebrate some kind of holiday in nature, or maybe you have a fireplace or a sauna. Therefore, it is necessary to make a woodpile ahead of time so as not to wander through the winter forest in search of firewood or not to buy ready-made.
• The grass should be mowed so that there is less work and less weeds on the site in spring.
• Have time to water the trees before the cold snap, so that they have time to prepare for winter, perhaps fertilization should be applied.

Before the autumn rains start, it is necessary to check the drainage system on the site. It is advisable to wash all trays and drainage pipes, you can use a mini car wash, which supplies water under high pressure.

Particular attention must be paid to the well and the well, if any on your site. A well, which has only two or three rings, can be cleaned by yourself, having previously pumped out the water with a drain pump. It is not necessary to carry out disinfection if the water does not have an unpleasant smell; you can simply clean the walls. The crushed rock bottom filter of the well should be refreshed. We devoted a separate article to water treatment of a country house and disinfection of a well..

If the well is shallow, it will also need to be pumped, you can, of course, turn to specialists, for fidelity, so that everything is done correctly.

If there is a volatile sewage treatment system in the country, heed the advice of manufacturers, who should give instructions regarding its use in the winter. If you visit the summer cottage in winter, then you should not turn off the compressors, although this will entail additional electricity costs.

If in your gardening partnership or dacha village for the winter the centralized water supply is stopped (this is quite possible if there are no permanently living people), then you should make at least a small supply of water in case you arrive in winter. Just insert it into a container with water, for example, a shovel handle, so that it just doesn’t burst in extreme frosts.

Do not forget to drain the water from the summer shower without fail and remove the watering can for the winter – put it back on in the spring, it’s not difficult. In general, water is drained from the summer outdoor water supply system without fail, but inside the cottage – think for yourself how insulated your bathroom and bathroom are. Leave all ball valves slightly open so that frost does not split them..

Do not forget about your “faience friend” – the toilet. In an unheated dacha in winter, it can simply burst, so also drain the water from the tank and scoop out the overflow. The toilet hole can be plugged simply by using a plastic bottle that is the right size. You can also pour anti-freeze liquid for the car into the overflow. We do not recommend pouring salt into the overflow. During the winter, it crystallizes and turns into a salt stone, which is very difficult to get out of the toilet.

Disconnect all household appliances from the mains, including the washing machine and refrigerator, if you leave them in the country in winter.

The refrigerator should, of course, be defrosted and washed, leaving the door open so that an unpleasant odor does not form during the winter. For the same purpose, we leave the door of the washing machine ajar, after making sure that there is definitely not a drop of water left in it..

In general, in the country it will not hurt to do the cleaning before leaving so that there is less work in the spring. Of course, after a few months you will still have to remove everything from the accumulated dust, but there will be less worries. Carpets, if any, should be rolled up for the winter, and food supplies in the kitchen should be disposed of, so as not to provoke the appearance of mice and other pests.

Check the condition of the roof before future snowfalls, turn off the gas supply and electricity. Be sure to take care of the cellar, especially if it contains supplies for which you will come in winter. We think that you have already done the cleaning in the basement before putting new cans of conservation on the shelves, but it never hurts to ventilate, remove dust, disinfect and put herbs that protect against rodents..

The biggest headache for summer residents is vandals and thieves who can sneak around in the winter. Reliable forged lattices on windows or metal shutters with locks, strong, lockable shutters will help protect the cottage from unwanted guests. All the most valuable should be transferred from sheds and other outbuildings to the house, so it will be more reliable, because non-capital buildings with ordinary wooden doors are much easier to break.

All metal objects that can be handed over to collection points are under threat. Unscrew the taps, remove the metal supports for vegetables, hide garden tools, iron barrels for water, fittings – everything that can attract the attention of “metalworkers” is locked.

The locks should be lubricated, you can use ordinary grease, so that there are no problems with opening them in the spring. Remember that traps and live wires are illegal! The best option is if your gardening partnership has a guard or at least a watchman. Payments to the salary of a person who will go around the plots every day and keep order is cheaper than calculating losses in the spring and “restoring nerve cells”.

The most expensive way to protect a summer house is a set of video cameras and sensors that will immediately notify you of an illegal intrusion. But it is not always effective, since the alarm will only alert you of an invasion of your property, but will not prevent it.

It is clear that you do not want to leave your beloved summer cottage for a long time! Do not worry, in the spring you will return to the site again to take up a rake and a shovel or just relax in nature. And your dacha, after proper preparation for winter, will calmly wait for the owners.