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Issue 01 · November 2026
Ready for winter, one Saturday at a time.
The short list of jobs that keep a West Michigan house happy through its first hard freeze, and the two we see skipped most often.
By Nate Kaptein · 4 minute read
November is the month a house tells you what it needs. The furnace runs for real for the first time, the gutters fill, and the first night below freezing finds every hose still connected to the side of the house.
None of this is urgent in the way a burst pipe is urgent, which is exactly why it slides. Here is the list we work through in every member home this month. Most of it is a Saturday morning's work.
The November list
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01
Disconnect the garden hoses and shut the outside spigots.
Drain the line back inside if your house has a shutoff valve. A frozen spigot is one of the most common winter calls, and the leak often hides inside the wall until spring.
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02
Clean the gutters after the last leaves come down, not before.
Two passes beat one early one. Full gutters in a freeze turn into ice dams along the roof edge.
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03
Swap the furnace filter.
If you can't remember the last time, it's now. Mark the date on the frame with a pencil.
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04
Test smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.
Press and hold each test button. Replace any alarm older than ten years; the date is printed on the back.
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05
Blow out the irrigation system.
Sprinkler lines hold water. Have them cleared with air before the ground freezes.
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06
Walk the windows and doors for drafts.
A strip of light under an exterior door means the weatherstripping or sweep is done.
The two we see skipped
The spigots. A hose left connected traps water in the valve, and the pipe behind it can split inside the wall. You won't know until the spring thaw, when you turn the tap and the basement ceiling gets wet.
The second home. If the lake house sits empty from November to May, it needs someone to look in after every hard cold snap. Heat on, nothing dripping, nothing frozen.
None of it is urgent, so none of it gets done. That's the whole problem, and the whole reason we exist.
If your list is longer than your weekends, that's what we're for. Otherwise, coffee first, spigots second.