What the house needs in November, north of the equator
17 jobs, in five groups.
November is about water, in the sense of keeping it out of places it should not be. Clear the gutters and the downpipes once the leaves are actually down rather than halfway through, because a blocked gutter puts water down a wall rather than into a drain and the damage shows up inside a year or two later. Finish the lagging, find the stopcock and turn it to make sure it still moves, and drain the outside tap at the isolating valve. Rake the leaves off the lawn and the paths, because grass under leaves goes yellow within a fortnight and a wet leaf on a path is how people fall. Indoors, the heating season list starts again: air the house daily and watch the cold corners.
Safety
- Test every smoke alarm
- Press the button on each one until it sounds. It takes two minutes and it is the single most useful thing on this list.
- Clear the lint from the dryer and its vent
- Every few weeks in the months you use it most. Lint is what turns a dryer fault into a fire, and the vent matters as much as the filter.
Water and heating
- Lag the outside taps and any exposed pipe
- Anywhere a pipe runs through an unheated space. Foam lagging costs very little against the price of a burst.
- Find the stopcock and turn it
- Turn it off and on again so you know it still moves and where it is. In an emergency that knowledge is worth a great deal.
- Clear the gutters and the downpipes
- After the leaves come down, and again before the rainy season. A blocked gutter puts water down a wall rather than into a drain.
- Drain the hose and bring it in
- Water left in a hose over a hard frost splits it, and a split hose is not obvious until the first hot day of the next year.
Inside
- Watch the cold corners for condensation
- Behind wardrobes, in window reveals, on the north or south facing wall. Black spotting is mould and it starts as water on the glass.
- Air the house for a few minutes a day
- Even in the cold. Ten minutes of open windows costs very little heat and takes out the moisture four people breathe out overnight.
- Feel round the doors and windows for draughts
- Do it on a windy day with the back of your hand. Draught strip is the cheapest heating improvement there is.
Outside
- Check the tyres, the screenwash and the antifreeze
- Before the cold weather rather than in it. Tread and pressures take five minutes on a forecourt.
- Clean and put the garden furniture away
- Dry, clean and under cover. Cushions left in a damp box in October are mouldy cushions in April.
The garden edge
- Clean, sharpen and oil the garden tools
- In the quiet months. A sharp spade is half the work of a blunt one and rust starts in the week they go away dirty.
- Last cut, then clean and store the mower
- Run the fuel out or add a stabiliser, clean the deck properly and store it dry. Old petrol left in over winter is the commonest reason it will not start.
- Clean the feeders and keep them filled
- Through the hard months, when it matters most. Clean them properly each time, because a dirty feeder spreads disease among the birds it feeds.
- Get the grit or the salt in
- Before you need it, because the shops sell out on the first icy morning. A bucket by the door is enough for most paths.
- Rake the leaves off the lawn and the paths
- Grass under leaves goes yellow within a fortnight. Put them in a bag with a few holes and you have leaf mould in a year.
- Turn off and drain the outside tap
- At the isolating valve inside, then open the tap outside to let the water out. It is the single commonest winter burst.
Tick them off as you go
This page is the plain list for November. The same list is tickable onthe house through the year, where the ticks are kept on your own device and cleared at the start of each year. Nothing is sent anywhere.
The garden half of the month is on the almanac page forNovember, which covers what to sow, what to plant out and what is ready to pick.