The Bergen County Winter Home Checklist.

Disconnect every hose. Close the interior shutoff valve for each spigot (usually on the pipe just inside the basement wall), then open the outdoor spigot to drain it. Frost-free spigots still freeze if a hose is left attached.

In Bergen County that is usually late November. Clear the gutters, flush the downspouts, and make sure water discharges a few feet from the foundation. Clogged gutters are where ice dams and basement seepage both start.

Safety: Two-story ladder work is a common winter injury. If you are not comfortable, hire it out; it is inexpensive.

Use binoculars. Look for lifted or missing shingles, cracked flashing around the chimney, and debris in valleys. Small repairs in November are cheap; the same repairs after an ice dam are not.

Ice-loaded limbs come down in February. Take care of anything hanging over the roof, the driveway, or where cars park.

Safety: Any branch near a power line is the utility's job. Call PSE&G or Rockland Electric, not a landscaper.

Walk the perimeter after a rain. Low spots against the foundation fill with meltwater in March and show up as a wet basement. Add soil to pitch the first few feet away from the house, and extend downspouts.

Cushions left out through a wet winter rarely survive. Shut off the propane at the tank and cover the grill, or bring it into the garage.

Furnace, boiler, or heat pump, it should be serviced before the first cold snap, when every HVAC company in the county is slammed. A real tune-up includes a combustion test and a look at the heat exchanger or boiler sections, not just a filter swap.

A clogged filter is the most common cause of a "no heat" call that did not need to happen. Write the date on the edge of the new filter and check it monthly through the season.

In most Bergen houses it is in the basement near the front foundation wall where the water line enters. Show everyone in the house. If the valve is stiff or corroded, have a plumber replace it now, not during an emergency.

Foam pipe sleeves, slit lengthwise, cost a few dollars each. Prioritize supply lines along outside walls, near the sill plate, in the garage, and in any crawl space under an addition.

Weatherstripping on exterior doors, foam gaskets behind outlet covers on exterior walls, and caulk around window trim. Fast, cheap, and noticeable in a 1960s split-level.

If you can see the tops of the ceiling joists, you are under-insulated for our climate. Weatherstrip the attic hatch and add a foam lid; a single leaky hatch can cause more ice damming than a whole roof of thin insulation. NJ Clean Energy and the utilities have offered incentives for this work.

The small switch on the fan housing. Clockwise on low pushes warm air down from the ceiling without a draft.

The manufacture date is printed on the back. New Jersey requires working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in homes, and a compliance certificate when a house is sold; specifics vary by town, so check with your local fire official. Any fuel-burning appliance can produce CO if venting fails.

Safety: If a CO alarm ever sounds, leave the house and call 911 or your gas utility's emergency line.

Lint fires spike in winter because dryers run more and the outside flap can freeze shut. Disconnect the duct, clean it end to end, and make sure the exterior flap opens freely.

Run it under load monthly. Have the annual service done now; demand for generator technicians peaks in January after the first outage, not before it.

Safety: Portable generators run outdoors only, at least 20 feet from the house, never in a garage.

Flashlights, batteries, a few gallons of water, phone chargers, and a printed list of utility outage lines. Bergen County is served mostly by PSE&G, with Rockland Electric in several northern towns. Look up your account's outage line and save it in your phone now.