The importance of loft hatches in cold weather

As the cold weather takes a grip, property owners are advised to ensure they check and prepare their properties for freezing conditions – seriously, it’s not a subject to be taken lightly.

You need to give homes a once over both internally and externally.

“It’s worth checking that all the pipes and tanks in the loft are adequately insulated and that overflow pipes are connected and not blocked,” said Paul Campbell, property manager at Campbells.

The team at Campbells recommend that you ensure that your gutters and downpipes are clear and free from cracks – don’t forget to check that your drain grills are not covered by debris – your gutters and downpipes will simply split if you don’t.

Whether you have an empty property or you are going away for a few days, we advise anyone to keep the loft hatch open – then if temperatures do plummet you will have a trickle of warmer air circulating in the loft which will also minimise your risk of burst pipes.

“Property owners forget that header tanks often sit above the insulation and are therefore susceptible to freezing easily – just leaving the heating on low is not enough” Paul urged.

Knowing where your stopcock and isolation valves are is vital – make sure you and your tenants, if you are letting the property, know where they are so that if you do happen to have a leak then both you and your tenant know where to go to turn off the water to minimize damage.

“I know this sounds mad, but you turn the tap clockwise – I’ve had many incidents in the past where occupants have turned the tap the wrong way, caused mayhem and can’t understand why the water keeps flowing out the front door” said Paul.

If you have a self condensing boiler it is also advisable to check that the excess water is running away easily – if the pipe is running outside, and particularly on a north facing wall, it will freeze causing your boiler to break down completely – then you are in trouble if the property is not occupied.

A few little checks will hopefully prevent you having to deal with a burst pipe.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 at 9:31 pm and is filed under Latest News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.