✓Ready-made checklist

Getting your flat ready for winter

What to check before the cold: windows and doors, radiators and ventilation, dry air, lighting, seasonal clothes and an emergency kit for outages.

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Check window pressure and seals
Run your hand around the sash: a draught is felt immediately. Many windows have a seasonal pressure setting — check the manual.

Windows are the main source of heat loss in a flat, and checking them takes five minutes with no tools.
Check the balcony door
It loses pressure and seal integrity more often than windows do. Check it separately rather than in passing.
Inspect the front door and the gap beneath it
The seal, the threshold, the gap underneath. Cold and smells come from the stairwell more than people think.
Check that radiators heat along their whole height
A cold top with a hot bottom usually means air in the system. Raise it with the building management before the frosts.
Free the radiators from curtains and furniture
A floor-length curtain or a sofa pushed against it noticeably cuts output. This is free extra warmth.
Check the ventilation draw
Hold a sheet of paper to the grille. Without draw you get condensation on windows and damp in corners.
Deal with dry air
Short bursts of ventilation, a humidifier if you have one, and clean its filters. Parched air is the classic winter problem.
Clean the humidifier and air-conditioner filters
Before the season of heavy use. A dirty filter means worse performance and a smell through the flat.
Add light where you sit in the evening
Local warm lamps instead of a single ceiling light. The dark season becomes noticeably easier.

Light is the one winter adjustment that changes how you feel rather than the temperature, and it costs less than any other.
Clean the windows before it gets cold
Clean glass adds noticeable light on a short day, and washing them in frost is awkward and bad for the seals.
Get out and check winter clothes and boots
Zips, linings, boot treatment, whether children's clothes still fit. Better discovered in October than in the first frost.
Put down entrance mats
In winter you carry in water, grit and de-icer. A mat outside and inside saves cleaning and the floor finish.
Assemble a winter emergency kit
A torch with batteries, candles and matches, a power bank, some water, basic medication. Somewhere everyone knows.
Make sure you know where the water shut-off and fuse box are
Show everyone who lives there. Breakdowns are more common in winter, and hunting for a valve in the dark is the worst case.
Move plants away from radiators and cold windows
Hot dry air and cold glass are equally harmful. Winter watering is usually less frequent — check the soil, not the calendar.
Do not forget the car and seasonal tasks
Tyres, battery, screen wash, an ice scraper. If you have a summer place, it has its own winterising list.

Winter arrives for the people who did not check the windows in October

A city flat suffers from three things in winter: cold through gaps, dry air from the heating and darkness. All three are solved in advance and cheaply — while in December they mean a queue for a tradesperson and an emergency.

This list is about a city flat. A house or summer place is closed down differently: there the question is not comfort but water, heating and surviving until spring.

Heat: where it escapes

Place	What to check
Windows	Sash pressure, seals, the handle’s seasonal setting, gaps at the reveals
Balcony door	The same pressure and seals, often worse than the windows
Front door	Seal, threshold, the gap underneath
Radiators	Warm along their whole height, air in the system, nothing covering them
Ventilation	Draw: without it you get condensation and damp

A radiator hidden behind a heavy curtain or furniture heats the room noticeably worse. It is the cheapest heating adjustment that exists.

About dry air

Heating dries the air, and people, furniture and plants all suffer. Short bursts of ventilation help, as does a humidifier if you have one, with open containers of water as a stopgap. While you are at it, clean the filters of the humidifier and the air conditioner if you use them.

Light and mood

The dark season is easier with more light at home, and warmer light. Check the bulbs, add local lamps where you sit in the evening, and clean the windows: clean glass noticeably adds light on a short day.

Supplies and safety

Outages and breakdowns are more common in winter. Keep a torch with batteries, candles and matches somewhere known, a charged power bank, some water and basic medication. Make sure you know where the water shut-off and the fuse box are — hunting for them in the dark is a poor plan.

When the flat is ready for winter

Windows and doors hold the heat, radiators warm up and are not blocked, ventilation draws, the air is not parched, there is enough light, the emergency supplies are in place, and seasonal clothes and boots are out and in order.

Frequently asked questions

How do I prepare a flat for winter?

Check the window and balcony door pressure, the seals and the gap under the front door, make sure radiators heat fully and are not blocked, check the ventilation draw, deal with dry air, add lighting and put together an emergency kit for outages.

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