Official sources checked on November 7, 2026. Guidance quoted from the City of Toronto (page modified October 19, 2026), the City of Ottawa, Enbridge Gas, the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA), Natural Resources Canada (pages modified June 10, 2025) and Public Safety Canada (page modified September 12, 2025).
A winter home maintenance checklist for Ontario comes down to five jobs: protect your water pipes (keep every area with pipes above 8°C and drain outdoor taps), keep the gas meter and exhaust vents clear of snow with a soft brush, test smoke and carbon monoxide alarms monthly, have the furnace and HRV serviced once a year and change the filter about every 3 months, and keep a kit that lets your household manage for at least 72 hours on its own. Do the outdoor and heating jobs before the first hard freeze, usually in October and November, then repeat the snow, vent and alarm checks all winter.
If the checklist turns up a bigger job, our attic insulation cost calculator and roof replacement cost calculator (currently based on Québec prices) give you a first budget before you call contractors.
This guide is written for Ontario homeowners. The frozen-pipe rules quoted below come from Toronto and Ottawa; responsibilities, phone numbers and advisories can differ in your municipality, so check your city’s website as well.
In this guide
Winter home maintenance checklist at a glance
| Task | When | What the official guidance says |
|---|---|---|
| Disconnect hoses and drain outdoor taps | Before the first freeze | Disconnect outdoor hoses and open outdoor taps to drain (City of Toronto) |
| Insulate exposed pipes | Before the first freeze | Foam pipe covers in basements, crawl spaces, garages and attics (City of Toronto) |
| Find and test the main water shut-off valve | Before the first freeze | Listed by both Toronto and Ottawa |
| Keep areas with pipes warm | All winter | Above 8°C, especially near the water meter (Toronto); at least 8°C even when away for a few days (Ottawa) |
| Service the furnace and HRV or ERV | Fall, once a year | Have them serviced yearly (Natural Resources Canada) |
| Clean or change the furnace filter | About every 3 months | Every 3 months, or as your owner’s manual says (Natural Resources Canada) |
| Seal drafts around windows and doors | Fall | Caulking and weatherstripping; seal indoors before outdoors (Natural Resources Canada) |
| Clear the gas meter and exhaust vents | After every snowfall or storm | Soft broom or brush; never kick, shovel, scrape or blow snow onto them (Enbridge Gas, TSSA) |
| Test smoke and CO alarms | Monthly | Test monthly (City of Ottawa); CO alarm on every storey since January 1, 2026 in homes with a fuel-burning appliance, fireplace or attached garage (Government of Ontario) |
| Clear the fire hydrant and catch basins | After snowfalls | A path to and 1.5 metres around the hydrant (City of Ottawa) |
| Check the emergency kit | Once a year | At least 72 hours of supplies, 4 litres of water per person per day (Public Safety Canada) |
Before the first hard freeze: the fall part of the checklist
Most winter damage is prevented in October and November, while it is still comfortable to work outside and you can book a heating technician before the first cold snap.
Outdoor water lines and the shut-off valve
- Disconnect every garden hose and open the outdoor taps so they drain. The City of Toronto frozen-pipe page lists this first among its prevention steps.
- If your house has an older indoor shut-off for the outdoor tap (often in the basement ceiling), Ottawa recommends shutting it off.
- Wrap foam pipe insulation around pipes in basements, crawl spaces, garages, attics and along exterior walls.
- Find the main water shut-off valve and test that it turns. In Ottawa, the City also asks you to clear snow from the outside shut-off valve and keep the inside valve free of obstructions.
Drafts, caulking and weatherstripping
Natural Resources Canada says windows and doors can cause up to 25% of total home heat loss, and recommends sealing them with caulking and weatherstripping. One detail most checklists miss: NRCan notes that the indoor sealing must be completed before the outdoor sealing, so moist indoor air is not trapped in the wall. The City of Ottawa also suggests sealing electrical outlets and switches with foam pads or gaskets.
Heating system tune-up
Book the heating check-up in the fall. Natural Resources Canada recommends hiring a licensed and insured contractor for annual pre-season check-ups, with the heating system in the fall and the cooling system in the spring, and says to get your furnace and heat or energy recovery ventilator (HRV or ERV) serviced yearly. If you heat with a hot-water boiler, NRCan suggests bleeding the air from the radiators once or twice a year. For filter types and MERV ratings, see our guide on how often to change a furnace filter.
Eavestroughs, icicles and the roof
Enbridge Gas asks homeowners to repair leaking eavestroughs right away, because water dripping onto a gas meter or vent can freeze over it. If you had icicles or water stains last winter, read our guide to ice dams on roofs before the snow arrives: the lasting fix is in the attic, not on the roof.
Frozen pipes: how to prevent them and how to thaw them safely
Keep every area with water pipes above 8°C, and if a pipe freezes anyway, thaw it slowly with gentle heat, never with a flame.
Prevention
- Keep areas with water pipes above 8°C, especially near the water meter (City of Toronto). Ottawa says to keep at least 8°C indoors even if you are away for a few days.
- Keep the house warm overnight and when you are away. Toronto adds that if you control the thermostat, you can raise it by one or two degrees overnight during extreme cold.
- Leave doors open to rooms or cupboards that contain water lines or the water meter, and keep the garage door shut (City of Ottawa).
- When nighttime temperatures drop below −15°C, Toronto says you may run a pencil-thin stream of water from vulnerable taps. You pay for the water used.
- If indoor pipes freeze often, ask a plumber for advice rather than repeating the same fix every winter.
How to thaw a frozen pipe
- Open the cold water tap in the basement, preferably in the laundry room, so water can flow once the ice melts.
- Warm the pipe gently with a heating pad, a hair dryer or warm towels. Do not leave heating devices unattended.
- Never use a blowtorch, a propane heater or any open flame. Toronto warns these are dangerous fire and carbon monoxide hazards.
- Be patient: the City of Toronto says thawing can take one to six hours, depending on the weather and how frozen the pipe is.
- If you have no water at all, call 311. City staff will investigate; if the frozen section is on private property, they will tell you to call a plumber.
Who is responsible for which part of the water pipe
| Section of pipe | Responsible (Toronto and Ottawa) | Who to call |
|---|---|---|
| Watermain on the street to the property line | The City | 311 in Toronto; 3-1-1 in Ottawa |
| Property line into the home | The property owner or landlord | A licensed plumber |
| Ottawa properties on the at-risk list | Owner follows the City’s seasonal “Run Water” advisory | 3-1-1 or the advisory instructions |
According to the City of Ottawa (January 21, 2025), “Run Water” advisories go to about 2,000 at-risk properties when frost depths reach critical levels. If you receive one, follow it: it overrides general advice.
Gas meters and exhaust vents: clear them after every storm
A meter or vent buried in snow is not just an inconvenience. Enbridge Gas warns that blocked vents can cause a dangerous carbon monoxide buildup, and the TSSA notes that furnace and water heater exhaust vents often come out the side of a house as low as one foot above the ground, where drifts pile up first.
- After a storm, use a broom or soft brush to clear snow, ice and debris from the meter and every vent (Enbridge Gas).
- Never hit or kick the meter or vents, and never use sharp objects, a shovel or a snow blower on them.
- Do not try to break or melt ice that has built up on the meter.
- Remove large icicles hanging above the meter and vents, including from the eavestroughs overhead.
- Do not shovel, plow or blow snow up against the meter or vent pipe (TSSA).
Call Enbridge Gas at 1-866-763-5427 if the meter is damaged or buried, if you suspect a problem, or if you cannot safely remove the snow or ice, as stated on the Enbridge Gas meter safety page. The TSSA gives the same number to report meter icing or any other natural gas emergency.
Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms
Test smoke and carbon monoxide alarms every month; the City of Ottawa includes this reminder in its winter guide. Winter is when furnaces, fireplaces and gas water heaters run the most, and when snow can block their vents.
Ontario tightened its CO alarm rule on January 1, 2026. According to the Government of Ontario’s carbon monoxide safety page (updated December 30, 2025), a home with a fuel-burning appliance, a fireplace or an attached garage must have a working CO alarm adjacent to each sleeping area and on every storey, including storeys with no bedroom. Ontario’s advice is to test monthly, replace batteries yearly and replace the alarm according to the manufacturer’s instructions. If the alarm sounds, get everyone out and call 9-1-1 from outside. Our guide to the carbon monoxide detector law in Ontario explains how to count the alarms your house needs.
Heating, thermostat and humidity in winter
Heating is the biggest energy use in a Canadian home: Natural Resources Canada estimates about 61% of the energy used in the average home goes to heating. That makes the thermostat and the filter the two cheapest winter jobs on this list.
- Thermostat schedule: NRCan suggests programming 17°C when you are sleeping or not at home and 20°C when you are awake and at home. It calls a two to three degree reduction optimal for saving energy while staying comfortable.
- Smart thermostat: NRCan says one can reduce home energy consumption by at least 8%.
- Filters: clean or change the furnace filter every 3 months, or as your owner’s manual specifies.
- Humidity: Health Canada recommends keeping indoor relative humidity between 30% and 50%. If you see water or frost on windows, our guide to condensation on windows in winter shows the lower limits that apply on very cold days.
There is one conflict to manage. A deep night-time setback saves energy, but on extreme-cold nights the City of Toronto suggests raising the thermostat by one or two degrees to protect pipes. In a house with pipes on exterior walls or in a crawl space, pipe protection comes first on those nights; go back to your normal schedule when the cold snap ends.
Snow, ice and the outside of the house
Clearing snow is part of home maintenance, and the City of Ottawa’s first advice is about you, not the house: be careful, take breaks and do not overexert yourself.
- Fire hydrant: if one is near your home, clear a path to it and 1.5 metres around it (City of Ottawa).
- Catch basins: keep the storm drains on your street clear of snow and debris so meltwater can drain.
- Vents and meter: include them in every snow-clearing round, not just the driveway.
- Roof: do not climb onto a snowy roof. If an ice dam forms, follow the ground-level steps in our ice dam guide.
- Firewood: buy it locally and burn it in the same area where you bought it, as Ottawa advises.
Worked example: a winter plan for a family of four
Here is how the official numbers translate for a typical Ontario household: four people, everyone asleep 8 hours a night, the house empty 9 hours on weekdays for work and school, and someone home all day on weekends. All figures below were calculated from these assumptions.
| Item | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Hours at 17°C on a weekday | 8 h asleep + 9 h away | 17 h (and 7 h at 20°C) |
| Hours at 17°C per week | 5 weekdays × 17 h + 2 weekend days × 8 h | 101 of 168 h (60%) |
| Hours at 20°C per week | 168 h − 101 h | 67 h |
| Furnace filters per year | 12 months ÷ change every 3 months | 4 filters |
| Emergency water, minimum | 4 L × 4 people × 3 days | 48 litres |
| Emergency water, one person | 4 L × 1 person × 3 days | 12 litres |
For this household, the NRCan schedule keeps the house at 17°C for about 60% of the week, the filter plan means buying 4 filters a year, and the minimum emergency water supply is 48 litres. NRCan does not publish a percentage saving for this exact schedule, so we do not estimate a dollar figure; the point is that most of the week can run at the lower setting without anyone being home and cold.
Winter emergency kit and power outages
Public Safety Canada asks every household to be prepared to be self-sufficient for at least 72 hours (page modified September 12, 2025). A winter storm or ice storm that knocks out power is the most likely reason an Ontario household would need it.
- Water: about 4 litres per person, per day.
- Food that won’t spoil, and a manual can opener.
- A flashlight and a radio, with extra batteries or crank-powered models.
- Chargers for mobile devices, and a corded phone for emergency use if you still have a landline.
- A first aid kit (bandages, antiseptic wipes, protective gloves, pain relievers, face masks) and enough medication to last a couple of weeks.
- Some cash, copies of important documents and a copy of your emergency plan with contact information.
- Replace anything that expires, such as food, water, batteries and medication, at least once a year.
During an outage, the City of Ottawa reminds residents never to leave a lit candle unattended, and to run a gas generator or a propane barbecue only outside the home. Both produce carbon monoxide.
Month-by-month winter maintenance calendar for Ontario
This calendar spreads the official tasks above over the season. It is our suggested order, not an official schedule; adjust it to your region, since winter starts earlier in Northern Ontario than in the south.
| When | Jobs |
|---|---|
| October | Book the furnace and HRV or ERV service; disconnect hoses and drain outdoor taps; insulate exposed pipes; caulk and weatherstrip from the inside first; repair leaking eavestroughs |
| November | Change the furnace filter; test smoke and CO alarms; find and test the main water shut-off; set the thermostat schedule; check the 72-hour kit |
| December to February | After every snowfall: meter, vents, hydrant and catch basins; test alarms monthly; watch for nights below −15°C; change the filter again around February |
| March | Look for ice-dam stains on ceilings and walls; book the spring cooling check-up NRCan recommends; restock anything used from the kit |
Common mistakes to avoid
- Thawing a pipe with a blowtorch, a propane heater or any open flame.
- Kicking the gas meter or chipping at ice on it with a shovel.
- Throwing snow from the driveway onto the meter or a low exhaust vent.
- Setting a deep night-time setback during an extreme cold snap in a house with vulnerable pipes.
- Forgetting the CO alarm on a storey without a bedroom, now required in most Ontario homes with fuel-burning equipment.
- Leaving a garden hose connected to the outdoor tap all winter.
- Assuming the City will repair a frozen pipe on your side of the property line.
RénoClair tip
Before the first snowfall, take daylight photos of your main water shut-off valve, your gas meter and every exhaust vent outside the house. When a storm buries them, you will know exactly where to brush and where not to throw snow.
Frequently asked questions
What should be on a winter home maintenance checklist in Ontario?
At minimum: drain outdoor taps and insulate exposed pipes, keep areas with pipes above 8°C, service the furnace and HRV yearly, change the filter about every 3 months, clear the gas meter and vents after each storm, test smoke and CO alarms monthly and keep a 72-hour emergency kit.
What temperature should I keep my house to stop pipes from freezing?
Keep areas with water pipes above 8°C, according to the City of Toronto, and at least 8°C indoors even when you are away, according to the City of Ottawa. On extreme-cold nights, Toronto suggests raising the thermostat by one or two degrees.
Should I leave a tap dripping in winter?
Only on very cold nights. The City of Toronto says that when nighttime temperatures drop below −15°C, you may run a pencil-thin stream of water from vulnerable taps, and that you will be charged for the water used.
How do I clear snow from my gas meter?
Use a broom or soft brush. Enbridge Gas says never to kick or hit the meter, never to use a shovel, sharp object or snow blower on it, and to call 1-866-763-5427 if it is damaged, buried or iced over and you cannot clear it safely.
How often should I change my furnace filter in winter?
About every 3 months. Natural Resources Canada recommends cleaning or changing the filter every 3 months, or following your owner’s manual, because a dirty filter makes the furnace work harder.
Do I need a carbon monoxide alarm on every floor in Ontario?
Yes, if your home has a fuel-burning appliance, a fireplace or an attached garage. Since January 1, 2026, Ontario requires a CO alarm adjacent to each sleeping area and on every storey of those homes.
Who pays to fix a frozen water pipe in Toronto or Ottawa?
It depends on where the pipe froze. The City is responsible from the watermain to the property line; the owner or landlord is responsible from the property line into the home and calls a plumber for that part.
What temperature should I set my thermostat at night in winter?
Natural Resources Canada suggests 17°C when you are sleeping or away and 20°C when you are awake and home. During extreme cold, protect vulnerable pipes first.
Winter is also the best season for a radon test, because at least 91 days of the test should fall in the heating season. Our radon test guide shows how to place the detector and read the result.
The bottom line
A good winter home maintenance checklist is short and repeated. In the fall, drain outdoor taps, insulate pipes, seal drafts from the inside first and have the furnace and HRV serviced. All winter, keep pipe areas above 8°C, brush snow off the gas meter and vents after every storm, test alarms monthly and change the filter about every 3 months. Keep at least 72 hours of supplies, including 4 litres of water per person per day, and know who to call: 311 for the City’s side of a frozen pipe, a plumber for yours, and Enbridge Gas at 1-866-763-5427 for a buried or damaged meter.
Sources
- City of Toronto, Prevent or thaw frozen pipes (modified October 19, 2026; read November 7, 2026)
- City of Ottawa, Cold weather, warm pipes: top tips to keep your pipes flowing (published January 21, 2025; read November 7, 2026)
- City of Ottawa, Guide to prepping your home for winter (no date shown; read November 7, 2026)
- Enbridge Gas, Keep your gas meter clear (no date shown; read November 7, 2026)
- TSSA, Keep gas meters and fuel-burning appliance vents free from snow and ice (January 18, 2022; read November 7, 2026)
- Natural Resources Canada, Winter is coming: top tips to heat your home for less (modified June 10, 2025)
- Natural Resources Canada, Guide to maintaining your home heating and cooling system (modified June 10, 2025)
- Natural Resources Canada, 5 ways to stay cozy this winter without turning up the heat (modified June 10, 2025)
- Public Safety Canada, Emergency kits (modified September 12, 2025)
- Government of Ontario, Carbon monoxide safety (updated December 30, 2025), and Health Canada, Addressing moisture and mould in your home, as summarized in our linked CO and condensation guides
