Every fall in Greater Moncton plays out the same way: a mild October, one cold snap nobody was ready for, and a rush of burst pipes, ice dams and furnaces that quit on the coldest night of the year. Almost all of it is preventable in October, while you can still feel your fingers. Work through this list before the first real freeze — most items take under an hour.
Outside first, while it's still mild
- Clean the gutters — after the leaves drop, not before. In Moncton that usually means late October. Clogged gutters are the number one cause of ice dams and the meltwater that finds its way into walls and basements all winter.
- Disconnect hoses and shut off exterior faucets. A hose left attached traps water in the pipe; one hard freeze can split it inside the wall, and you find out in spring. Shut the inside valve, open the outside tap, let it drain.
- Walk the foundation. Look for cracks, gaps where pipes and cables enter, and soil that slopes toward the house. Seal the small stuff now — caulk and foam don't cure properly once it's cold.
- Check steps, railings and decks. A loose railing you barely notice in October becomes a real hazard under ice. Tighten, reset popped screws, and replace any soft, rotted boards.
Then the inside jobs
- Test for drafts. Hold a tissue strip at each door and window frame on a windy day. Where it flutters, heat is leaving. Fresh weatherstripping and a door sweep pay for themselves in one NB winter.
- Change the furnace filter and book the service. HVAC companies in Moncton book up fast once the cold hits. A clean filter also matters if you're thinking about a heat pump down the road — airflow is everything.
- Insulate exposed pipes. Foam sleeves on pipes in unheated basements, garages and crawl spaces are cheap insurance against the classic January burst pipe.
- Test every smoke and CO detector. Heating season is CO season. Press the test button, replace batteries, and check the expiry date on the unit itself.
- Find your main water shutoff — and make sure it turns. If a pipe ever does burst, the person who knows where the shutoff is saves thousands. Valves that haven't moved in a decade sometimes don't.
💡 One visit, whole list
Most of this list is an honest Saturday-morning job. The parts worth handing off are the two-storey ladder work, doors that won't latch or close square, and anything electrical — those are the ones that go wrong expensively. Bundling the whole list into a single visit beats five separate call-outs spread over the winter.