The Winter Home Maintenance Checklist: What to Do Before the First Cold Snap

The Winter Home Maintenance Checklist: What to Do Before the First Cold Snap

Written by Daniel Zareh, REALTOR® — licensed since 2006, serving Hamilton, Stoney Creek, Grimsby, Binbrook, Beamsville, Burlington, Oakville and Mississauga.
Written October 29, 2026. Sidewalk responsibilities verified against each municipality's own published snow clearing information; carbon monoxide alarm rules against the Province of Ontario's published requirements for existing homes. I'm a REALTOR®, not a contractor — anything involving gas, electrical or structure is a job for a licensed trade.

Most of what goes wrong in a house over winter doesn't go wrong in January. It goes wrong in November, quietly, and you find out in January.

A hose left on an outdoor tap. A downspout packed with leaves. A furnace nobody has looked at since the last time it made a noise. None of it feels urgent in late October. All of it is cheaper to deal with now than after the first real cold snap.

So here's the list I actually run at my own place — and then the part most people get wrong, which is who is legally on the hook for your sidewalk. That answer is different depending on which municipality you live in, and plenty of people find out the expensive way.

Start outside, while you still can

Everything outdoors is easier at 8 degrees than at minus 8. That's the whole argument for doing it this week instead of "sometime."

Disconnect the hoses and shut off the outdoor taps. This is the single highest-value ten minutes on the list. A hose left attached traps water in the line, that water freezes and expands, and the split often isn't at the tap — it's in the pipe behind the wall, where you don't see it until it thaws and lets go. Shut the valve inside, open the outside tap to drain it, leave it open.

Clear the eaves and downspouts. Blocked eaves are how you get ice damming — melt water backs up under the shingles instead of running off. Older houses with low roof pitches are especially good at this, and there are plenty of those across the lower city in Hamilton, in Aldershot and in downtown Grimsby. While you're up there, point the downspouts away from the foundation.

Look up at the trees. Anything overhanging the roof, the driveway or the hydro line is a branch waiting for an ice storm. Deal with the ones you can reach safely, and get a quote on the ones you can't. If you're up the escarpment or anywhere the wind comes off the lake, this one matters more than it sounds.

Walk the perimeter once. You're looking for gaps where a mouse could get in, grade that slopes toward the house instead of away, and window wells full of leaves. Ten minutes, and it's the only time all year most people actually look at their own foundation.

The water stuff is where the big bills come from

Almost every expensive winter claim I've seen on a house started with water somewhere it shouldn't be.

Find your main shut-off valve now. Not when something bursts. Right now, in daylight, with time to figure out which way it turns. Then show whoever else lives there. If it's seized, that's a plumber call in November, not a 2 a.m. emergency in February.

Insulate the vulnerable pipes. The ones that run along exterior walls, through an unheated garage, or in a crawlspace. Foam sleeves cost very little and go on in an afternoon.

Don't shut the heat off in rooms you don't use. It feels like a saving. It's how pipes in that wall freeze. Keep some heat in there and leave the door open.

If you're away for a stretch, have someone actually walk through the house, not just look at it from the driveway. A furnace that quits on day two of a ten-day trip is a different story than a furnace that quits while you're home.

Heating, before you need it

Change the furnace filter and book the service. The service call gets harder to book every week from here — everyone phones on the first cold morning. A filter is a five-minute job and it's the cheapest thing you can do for a furnace.

Reverse your ceiling fans. Clockwise on low pushes the warm air that's collected at the ceiling back down the walls. It costs nothing and it's genuinely noticeable in a room with high ceilings.

Check the outside vents. High-efficiency furnaces and tankless water heaters vent through the wall, and those vents have to stay clear of leaves, snow and ice. A blocked exhaust is a safety issue, not a comfort one.

If you have a fireplace or a wood stove, get the chimney looked at before you light it, not after.

Who actually has to shovel your sidewalk

This is the one that surprises people, especially anyone who's moved between these markets. There is no single rule. It depends entirely on which municipality you're in, and the difference is stark.

Hamilton — that's you. Under By-law 03-296, every owner or occupant has to clear snow and ice from the sidewalk abutting their property within 24 hours of the end of a winter storm. Not when you get to it. Twenty-four hours. And the City isn't coming to do it for you on most streets: Hamilton clears roughly 397 kilometres of about 2,445 kilometres of sidewalk, mainly municipal property, reverse frontage lots, all of the former Ward 12, and the stretches next to schools. Everything else is yours. That includes Stoney Creek, Ancaster, Dundas, Waterdown and Binbrook, which are all part of the City of Hamilton.

Burlington — the City does it. Crews start clearing sidewalks once accumulation reaches five centimetres, and the City aims to have them cleared within 48 hours of the end of snowfall. Over 30 centimetres it can take longer. Crews run 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Oakville — the Town does it. About 1,100 kilometres of sidewalk. Plows go out at five centimetres on primary and secondary routes and eight centimetres on local ones, with a target of up to 24 hours after the snow stops for main sidewalks and up to 48 hours for local ones.

Grimsby — the Town does it. All municipal sidewalks are the Town's. What's yours is the walkway that branches off the Town sidewalk onto your own property — the path to your door.

So a Hamilton homeowner has a legal duty with a clock on it, and someone twenty minutes down the QEW in Burlington mostly doesn't. If you've just moved, that's worth knowing before the first storm rather than after. And wherever you are, the walkway to your own front door is always yours — a buyer coming to a showing in February notices that immediately.

The carbon monoxide rule that changed this year

This one is province-wide, it applies to all of these markets, and almost nobody has caught up with it.

Ontario's requirements apply to any existing home with a fuel-burning appliance, a fireplace, an attached garage, or air heated by a fuel-burning appliance located outside the home. That covers most houses around here. The long-standing rule is an alarm adjacent to each sleeping area. The newer part, effective January 1, 2026, is an alarm on every storey — including storeys with no bedroom on them.

So if you've got one alarm in the hallway outside the bedrooms and nothing in the basement where the furnace lives, you're short. Alarms also expire; check the date stamped on the back, because a ten-year-old detector that still beeps when you press the button is not necessarily still working.

Your local fire department is the authority on this, and they'd far rather answer a question in October than attend a call in January.

The ten-minute version

If you do nothing else on this page, do these:

• Disconnect the hoses, shut off and drain the outdoor taps
• Clear the eaves and downspouts
• Trim the branches hanging over the roof
• Fresh furnace filter, and book the service
• Reverse the ceiling fans
• Clear leaves and snow off the exterior vents
• Find your main water shut-off valve
• Insulate the pipes on exterior walls and in the garage
• Leave some heat on in rooms you don't use
• CO alarm on every storey — check the expiry dates
• Test every smoke alarm
• Find out whether your municipality or you clears the sidewalk
• Buy the shovel and the salt before the first storm, not during it

Why a realtor is telling you to clean your eaves

Fair question. Here's the honest answer.

Deferred maintenance doesn't stay invisible. It shows up in a home inspection, and when it does, it stops being a $40 problem and becomes a negotiating point. I've watched a water stain on a basement ceiling — from a downspout nobody redirected three winters ago — turn into thousands off an accepted price, because once a buyer sees it they stop trusting everything else in the house.

The flip side is that none of this is a renovation. It's a Saturday. And a house that's been looked after reads that way to a buyer long before they can tell you why.

If you're planning to sell in the spring, this is the work that actually pays. The kitchen probably isn't.

Common Questions

Do I have to shovel my own sidewalk?
It depends where you live. In Hamilton, yes — By-law 03-296 gives owners and occupants 24 hours from the end of a winter storm, and the City only clears about 397 km of roughly 2,445 km itself. In Burlington, Oakville and Grimsby the municipality clears the public sidewalks. Everywhere, the walkway from the sidewalk to your own door is yours.

How long does the city take to clear sidewalks?
Burlington starts at five centimetres and aims for within 48 hours of the end of snowfall. Oakville starts at five centimetres on main routes and eight on local, targeting up to 24 hours for main sidewalks and 48 for local. Grimsby clears all municipal sidewalks. In Hamilton most sidewalks aren't on a municipal route at all.

Do I really need a carbon monoxide alarm on every floor?
If your home has a fuel-burning appliance, a fireplace or an attached garage, yes. Ontario's rules require an alarm adjacent to each sleeping area, and as of January 1, 2026, one on every storey — including storeys without bedrooms. Your local fire department enforces it and can tell you exactly how it applies to your house.

What's the one thing I should do first?
Disconnect the hoses and drain the outdoor taps. It takes ten minutes and it prevents the kind of burst that happens inside a wall, which is the expensive version.

Should I shut the heat off in rooms I don't use?
I wouldn't. The saving is small and the risk is a frozen pipe in that exterior wall. Keep some heat on and leave the door open so air moves.

Is it worth renovating before I sell in the spring?
Usually not the big stuff. Fixing what's visibly broken, a proper clean and a coat of paint tend to return more than a new kitchen does. Maintenance you've already deferred is the first thing to deal with, because that's what shows up in the inspection.

When should I book the furnace service?
Now. Availability gets worse every week once the weather turns, and the first genuinely cold morning is when every technician in the city is already booked.

If spring is in the plan, do these now

Send me your address and I'll come walk through the place with you before the snow flies. You'll get a short list of what's genuinely worth fixing before you list, what buyers on your street notice first, and what I'd leave exactly as it is.

I'll also tell you where not to spend. A lot of pre-listing money doesn't come back, and I'd rather say that in November while you still have the option of doing nothing.

Call or text 416-276-0052   Email: daniel@zarehhomes.com

Or send me your address below and we'll find a time.

Keep reading

• What it actually costs to sell a house in Ontario
• The Bank of Canada raised rates — what it means for your renewal
• The money side of buying: credit, mortgages and the six signs a house will cost you
• The latest Hamilton, Grimsby and Stoney Creek market numbers

Daniel Zareh is a licensed REALTOR® with over 20 years of experience serving Hamilton, Stoney Creek, Grimsby, Binbrook, Beamsville, Burlington, Oakville and Mississauga. Snow clearing responsibilities and alarm requirements cited were current at the time of writing and are each municipality's and the Province's to change — confirm anything that affects you with your own city or town and your local fire department. This is general information, not legal, construction or safety advice.