Halloween has arrived and we can’t help but notice how the mercury is dropping. Winter is just around the corner.

While we still can, many of us in Meadville are taking the opportunity to get our homes prepared for the annual deep freeze that is the Northwestern Pennsylvania winter. Below are some projects to consider before the snow starts to fly. 

Prepare the outdoor hose faucets: No one wants to deal with frozen or burst pipes in the dead of winter. To avoid a bad situation, take some steps now to prepare your outdoor faucets. If you have an antifreeze faucet, clean out or replace the valve stem to make sure your home stays protected. We suggest using one of the CHANNELLOCK^® NUTBUSTER^® pliers for removing the antifreeze-valve nut. The parrot-nose heads on the 414, 410 and 307 NUTBUSTERS are ideal for round surfaces. If you have a standard outdoor faucet instead of an antifreeze faucet, look for the faucet’s shutoff valve inside your home. After you’ve turned off the water to the outdoor faucet, open the faucet to drain the remaining water and then close it back up.

Prepare your garage, barn or storage shed: When it’s time to store all of those summer items from around the yard and house, it can also be time to put up some shelving. That can be a pain if you don’t have the right tools. The GS-3T Gift Set solves that problem. It includes the 6.5” 426 Straight Jaw tongue and groove plier; the 9.5” 420^® Straight Jaw tongue and groove plier; the 12” 440^® Straight Jaw tongue and groove plier; and a 16’ tape measure. Combined with either the new 181CB 18 ‘N 1 ratcheting screwdriver or the 131CB 13 ‘N 1 ratcheting screwdriver, you should have nearly every tool you need for assembly. Not only that, but the gift set and screwdrivers make great gifts for that handy person in your life come the holidays, which are getting closer every day.

Prepare the snow blower: If you live in a part of the country where snow is a fact of life, you know there’s nothing worse than a broken snow blower the day after the first storm. Now is the time to make sure it’s working. First, double check that all of the machine’s bolts and screws are tight. Then, examine the belts for any wear and cracks that might have developed since last winter. Finally, inspect the scraper bar, the item that actually scrapes the ground and removes snow, to see if it needs replaced. Snow blower maintenance is much easier when you have a high-quality wrench, like any of the CHANNELLOCK^® adjustable and ratcheting wrenches. Our adjustable wrenches, available in a range of sizes, feature longer jaws for fantastic grip and slippage prevention; greater jaw capacity to accommodate large nuts and bolts; and thinner jaws that give you access to tight spaces. Meanwhile, our ratcheting wrenches, available in both metric and SAE, deliver four sizes with each wrench, hollow sockets that provide greater flexibility over standard deep sockets and electronic coating for ultimate rust prevention.

These are just a handful of projects to consider and the tools that can help you get them done before the frigid winter winds start to blow. Good luck!

Michele M. King

Communications and Training Manager

Channellock, Inc.