For homeowners, fall is the last chance to lock down all your home maintenance tasks before winter comes, and with it threats of weather-related inconvenience and damage. With a little preventive maintenance, you can spend your winter cozy and secure in your home with no worries about freezing pipes or drafty windows. Here are a few things to do this fall in preparation for winter.

Make sure your house is sealed. If you’re not quite ready to invest in new windows, weatherstripping and door sweeps can prevent drafts and keep heat contained. If there are any weaknesses in your roof or gaps in your siding where water, air, or animals could enter, now is the time to seal them up!

Prep your plumbing. This is a good time to check to make sure that all of your pipes are properly insulated! Frozen pipes don’t just prevent you from accessing running water, but they can lead to pipes bursting, which makes for an expensive repair. Before the season turns, make sure to drain and store any garden hoses, and shut off water to any outdoor faucets.

Button up your landscaping. If you want your grass to stay healthy through the winter, this is the time to fertilize and reseed! Once the leaves have turned, pruning trees and bushes will set them up for success come next spring. While you’re at it, this is a good time to service and then store your lawn mower and other gardening and landscaping equipment.

 Get ready to heat your home. Your air conditioning may still be going strong now (depending on where you live!) but before too long, it’ll be time to turn on the heat. Check up on your furnace, boiler, and any fireplaces and chimneys while you still have time to get repairs and tune-ups done.

You don’t want to wait until squirrels are wintering in your attic or a snow-covered tree branch lands on your roof to start thinking about how to prepare your home for winter! Instead, take the initiative this fall and take care of these basics to prepare for the change of season and prevent costly, time-sensitive repairs!