Winter home checklist: 10 jobs to do before the first frost (2026)

Water: stopcock, pipes and outside taps

1. Find your stopcock and check it turns. It's the valve that shuts off water to the whole house, usually under the kitchen sink, sometimes by the front door or under the stairs. Clockwise to close. If it's seized, don't force it with a wrench. A plumber can free it or replace it, typically for £100–£250, which is far cheaper than a flooded ceiling.

2. Lag exposed pipes in the loft, garage, cellar and along any outside walls. Foam pipe lagging costs a few pounds a length from any DIY shop, and a cold water tank in the loft should have an insulating jacket too.

3. Deal with outside taps. If there's an isolating valve inside, turn it off and drain the tap. If not, fit an insulated tap cover. Severn Trent, which supplies water across Nottingham, Derby and Leicester, publishes winter advice on frozen and burst pipes.

Heating: boiler, radiators and the condensate pipe

4. Get the boiler serviced before you need it every day. A standard service in the East Midlands is usually £70–£110, and it's far easier to book in October than after the first cold week. Use a Gas Safe registered engineer and check their card.

5. Bleed any radiators that are cold at the top, then check the boiler pressure. Many combis like to sit around 1–1.5 bar when cold, but your boiler's manual gives the right figure. If the pressure keeps dropping, there's probably a leak worth getting looked at.

6. Know what to do about a frozen condensate pipe. On most modern condensing boilers, a plastic pipe runs outside to a drain. In a hard frost it can freeze and the boiler shuts down, often showing a fault code. Pouring warm (not boiling) water over the pipe usually thaws it. If it happens every winter, ask a heating engineer about insulating or re-routing it.

Outside: gutters and the roof

7. Clear the gutters once the leaves are down. Blocked gutters overflow down the walls and are a common cause of damp patches inside. A handyman or gutter firm typically charges £60–£100 for a semi, depending on access.

8. Look at the roof from the ground. Binoculars from the pavement will show slipped or missing tiles, cracked mortar on the ridge or loose flashing round the chimney. Small repairs caught now are often a few hundred pounds. The same problem after a winter of rain can mean replacing rotten timber too. Be wary of anyone who knocks offering to fix a roof problem you didn't know you had.

Inside: draughts, insulation and alarms

9. Stop the draughts, but keep the vents. Draught strip on doors and windows, a letterbox brush and a keyhole cover are cheap and quick. Never block air bricks or the vents that gas fires and some boilers need to burn safely.

10. Check your loft insulation and your alarms. The Energy Saving Trust recommends at least 270mm of loft insulation, so a quick look with a tape measure tells you if a top-up is worth it. Then test every smoke alarm, and fit a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a boiler, gas fire or log burner. If you smell gas or suspect carbon monoxide, get everyone outside and call the free gas emergency line on 0800 111 999.

Going away over winter? Leave the heating on a low or frost setting, and check your home insurance, because some policies have conditions for homes left empty in cold weather.

For the jobs you'd rather hand over, you can post them free on Rank My Builder and get up to 5 quotes. We're new and currently only match jobs in Nottingham, Derby and Leicester, so allow a bit of time for quotes to come in.

FAQs

Useful official links

Check these yourself — logos on a van are not the same as being on the register.

• Severn Trent — getting your home winter-ready
• Gas Safe Register — find an engineer
• GOV.UK — improve your home's energy efficiency