Our winters are famously sunny — and then the sun drops and the temperature does too. A high-desert home needs a little prep for those cold nights. Here’s the short checklist I share with clients each fall.
Protect the pipes
Wrap exposed and exterior pipes, disconnect and drain garden hoses, and know where your main shutoff is. On hard-freeze nights, open cabinet doors so warm air reaches the plumbing and let a faucet drip. A burst pipe is the classic — and preventable — winter headache.
Put the swamp cooler to bed
Drain it, shut off its water line, and cover it before the first freeze so trapped water doesn’t crack anything. It’s a ten-minute job that saves a spring surprise.
Reverse fans and check the heat
Flip ceiling fans to clockwise to push warm air down, and have your heating system serviced before you need it. Fresh filters and a quick tune-up keep it running efficiently through the cold snaps.
Mind the flat roofs
On the flat roofs common here, clear heavy snow away from drains and scuppers so melt has somewhere to go instead of ponding. A little attention after a big storm goes a long way.
That’s most of it. For the full year-round rhythm, see our season-by-season maintenance guide, or reach out with any question.
