It's tedious, dirty work.

You may have to give up a weekend or hire someone for the job, but somebody has to do it.

It's time to winterize your home.

The California Real Estate Inspection Association, a home inspectors' trade group, says if you don't it could cost you the integrity of your home, higher fuel bills, money spent on deferred maintenance, higher insurance premiums and possibly your homeowners insurance policy.

The list of winterizing tasks is shorter.

But seriously, winterizing your home is designed to thwart air intrusion to keep energy costs down, but it's also necessary to prevent moisture intrusion.

According to the trade group, moisture infiltration is the most destructive threat to a home's structural health. Moisture breeds rot and mold, which left uncorrected can ultimately cause structural damage which is especially dangerous in earthquake prone regions.

For some, mold also causes allergic reactions and greater health concerns for others.

That's not all.

Because of the growing number of moisture-related homeowner insurance claims, some home owners have suffered insurance premium hikes as high as 35 percent. A recent study from Chicago-based Aon Corp. says the industry isn't finished raising rates and premiums could rise again by as much as 20 percent.

In some states, insurers have withdrawn from the home owner insurance market. In still other cases, insurers fail to renew policies if a home owner has too many water-related claims. And in a growing number of instances, home buyers can't get coverage on a home they are about to purchase because of previous claims against the home made by the former owner.

Home inspectors recommend taking a series of winterization steps to minimize the cost to your home, health and energy and insurance budgets.

Published: November 6, 2002

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A journalist for 35-years, Broderick Perkins parlayed an old-school daily newspaper career into a digital news service offering editorial content and consulting services. Perkins' San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group includes the flagship news site, DeadlineNews.Com, offering real estate, personal finance and consumer journalism, and a backshop, the Deadline Newsroom.