It’s that time of year again. The days are getting shorter and cooler. To ensure that your house remains in prime condition over the winter, a good weekend spent on preventative maintenance is a great investment. By making a thorough inspection of your home inside and out you can detect and repair problems before they become issues. This can save you time and costly headaches down the road. If there are repairs below beyond your comfort zone, hire a licensed Contractor to handle the job.
GUTTERS AND DOWNSPOUTS
Neglected gutters can lead to wood rot problems, pest infestations, wet basements, foundation damage and many other expensive complications.
1. Consistently clean out your gutters and downspouts through out fall. Keep them free of leaves and debris.
2. Check those gutter support brackets to make sure they are secure and that water is not sneaking down behind the gutter.
3. For homes with trees relatively close to the home, install gutter guards.
4. Check to ensure water drains properly 5′- 6′ away from the foundation. If it doesn’t, settlement of your foundation, water penetration, and damage to your flatwork concrete can result.
5. If there are any cracks in the concrete of the driveway, sidewalks, or patio, then seal them up with expansive concrete caulk.
WOOD OR HARDBOARD SIDING
1. Identify where all of your penetrations are in the siding, such as at the A/C refrigerant line, sump discharge line, etc. and make sure they are sealed.
2. Check the vertical lap joints, vertical seams, trim around windows and doors, and if the existing caulk is cracked open, remove it, and caulk again. (Make sure you’re using paintable caulk.)
3. With hardboard panel siding, the base edge is the weakest point. Paint is sometimes never applied here or it may have cracked open. The capillary action is drawing water up into the siding causing it to swell and rot. If the siding is swelling or slightly rotted, this is a great time to install Cedar trim. Before you nail it to the siding, bevel the top edge 45 degrees and make sure the bottom hangs down 1/2″ from the siding. After, seal the top edge with caulk, prime, and paint the trim. This will make your siding last a very long time.
4. Rotted hardboard panel or lap siding should be replaced.
5. Be vigilant with keeping that base edge sealed and painted. On new construction, it’s rare for me to find the base edge where the lower roof meets the upper wall to be painted.
6. Watch for peeling paint or paint that is cracking. Get on top of it and paint your home. You’ll find your home needs painting about every 4-6 years with regular exterior paint. The higher grade paint can last upwards of 20-30 years and it’s like applying thick mud on your siding.
AIR LEAKAGE AT YOUR WINDOWS AND DOORS
1. Check around the window frames inside and out for potential leaks. Caulk any visible gaps.
2. Repair any damaged or loose door frames, window locks or latches.
3. Look around every exterior door for gaps. Look for daylight coming through the door on a sunny day. To prevent drafts and to help lower your heating bills, install weather stripping.
4. If you have older windows check around those for gaps and weather strip as needed.
5. Wood casement windows almost always have the stain worn off along the base edge. Some never had the stain applied from day one. As the exposed wood gets left to the elements, it doesn’t take long for it to rot. Before the weather changes, open those windows and stain that wood.
YOUR HOME’S HEATING SYSTEM
Most homeowners can’t remember when they changed their furnace filter last or paid to have a licensed HVAC Company to service it. Neglected furnaces have to work harder. They lose their efficiency and may possibly develop a crack in the heat exchanger.
1. Have your heating system cleaned, serviced, and evaluated by a licensed HVAC Company.
2. Replace the filter in your furnace on a regular basis. This is the #1 cause of cracked heat exchangers.
3. Joints in the duct work leak if not sealed. Take time to seal these up with duct mastiff and reap the rewards with a lower utility bill. On inspections, I’ve found disconnected ducts in the crawlspace and attic just blowing conditioned air out.
PLUMBING
1. Take time to double-check if your pipes are insulated in any unconditioned spaces such as crawlspaces or garages. If they aren’t insulated well, get on it. In the past, if your supply lines produced ice cold water in the winter, they may be in danger of freezing. Pay particular attention to bathrooms that are built over cantilevered walls or over open spaces such as decks. House wrap in these locations are critical to prevent air flow while insulation works to keep the conditioned space warm.
2. Disconnect all garden hoses. Even frost-free spigots will freeze if the garden hose holds water in the pipe.
3. Don’t forget to winterize your sprinkler system. Gravity drain systems are simple. All you do is make sure the exterior valves are turned diagonally and open up the drain valve. You may have to hire a professional if your sprinkler system needs to be blown out with an air compressor.
CHIMNEY AND FIREPLACE
Before you fire up your fireplace or stove, have it cleaned and serviced by a Certified Chimney Sweep. Go to the Chimney Safety Institute of America’s website at www.csia.org to find a Certified Sweep in your area. In 2009, 21.3% of the chimneys I inspected were breached with either cracked or shifted liners or deteriorated mortar joints. These conditions pose a threat of carbon monoxide poisoning or catching your home on fire. Numerous ones had heavy creosote buildup, inadequate and/or cracked crowns, missing caps, and spauled brick.
SMOKE AND CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTORS
Make sure you have smoke and carbon monoxide detectors installed on every level of the home. Change the batteries in all the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and check them frequently. Make sure you install CO detectors with peak level buttons so you can check the highest level since the last time you pushed the button as manufacturers have them calibrated to go off at 50-70 ppm of CO gas when long-term exposure to only 8 ppm can be deadly.
YOUR DRYER VENT
1. There are 2 ways to clean your dryer vents. The best way is to remove the dryer vent, lay it in your lawn, and spray water down the piping to wash all of the lint out. It’s scary to see how much piles up on your grass. The 2nd way, if your dryer vent is enclosed in a finished wall or ceiling and can’t be removed, is to hook up a leaf blower to it. Blasting air through it will help remove the lint buildup as well.
2. Inside your dryer behind the lint trap is another area for lint to build up. Unplug the dryer, remove the lint trap, and unscrew the lint trap holder. After this is removed, reach your hand into the vent channel and pull out as much lint as you can grab. After I did this on our dryer, I had about a basketball size pile of lint on the floor!
3. Over time a film will develop on the screen of your lint trap blocking air flow making your dryer work much harder to dryer each load. Don’t believe me? Hold your lint trap under a faucet and watch it hold water! You can easily clean the layer of film off with soapy water.
4. Animal guards or mesh on the end of the dryer vent is dangerous. It builds up with lint quickly and can clog the line. The proper end should only be a free moving flopper.
YOUR HOME’S ATTIC VENTILATION
Proper attic ventilation is critical to prevent high utility bills, moisture building up in the attic space with resulting damage, faster deterioration of your shingles, and to maintain the manufacturer’s warranty on your roof covering. For attics with soffit vents, the general rule of thumb is to have a vent at least every 8′. The square footage of the intake vents should equal the square footage of the exhaust vents. In 2009, 49% of the homes I inspected had attic ventilation issues. Some of the homes were so bad that the entire bottom side of the roof deck was covered in mold!
1. Pop your soffit vents off and hose the Cottonwood or any other debris off them. Most are installed with small screws or nails and can be easily taken off with a screwdriver. If removing them isn’t an option, take a leaf blower and blow up into the vent. If you could take them off, before you reinstall them, look up in the opening to make sure the baffles or air channel hasn’t been squished. There should be about 1″ of space between the roof deck and the insulation here. If the insulation is tight to the roof deck where your soffit vent is located, air is not able to enter the attic rendering that soffit vent useless. Take a broom handle and slide it up along the roof deck and make the 1″ air channel again.
2. Walking through your attic can reveal signs of inadequate attic ventilation. If you find areas of mold growth, darkened sections of your roof deck, rafter staining, or rust on nails, then it’s an indication of poor ventilation. Smelling musty odors is another sign. The best time to check is in the dead of winter when the temperature is really cold outside. If you have attic ventilation problems, you’ll be able to see frost on the nails, roof deck, or rafters. Attic ventilation issues should be reviewed and corrected by licensed Roofing Contractors because the solutions can range from something as simple as installing a few more vents to very complicated projects.
CRAWLSPACE VENTILATION
1. At the end of Fall, close up your crawlspace vents. This prevents cold air from entering and freezing your pipes and helps keep the rooms above the crawlspace warmer.
2. After the winter, open the vents to help control the moisture during the Spring, Summer, and Fall.
To learn more about attic ventilation issues, go to Omaha Home Inspection and check out our articles, sign up for our newsletter, and look through our photo galleries.
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