Prepare your home for the wet season

“NOTES TO THE NEIGHBORS”                                          Spring Edition 2020

Hello,

I hope the previous edition helped you prepare for the cold season. The next seasonal newsletter will be sent out during the summer season. If you have any questions or topic suggestions, feel free to email me ----

The spring edition will help you to prepare your home for the wet season.

Since we are all doing our part to eradicate the virus and keeping to our spaces, it is a good time to focus in on future improvements to our homes. Spring is here and it is time to bring out your home maintenance journal and create a spring punch list of home and landscape issues that require attention.

Take a walk around the exterior of your home in one direction and inspect your home from top to bottom. Next, turn around and do the same thing in the opposite direction. You may be surprised by what you can miss the first time around. It is very useful to take pictures from a distance that show the entire wall section when looking over the exterior of your home. Once you have completed this load them into your computer. You can sit comfortably and enlarge the pictures to scan them over for defects from inside the home.

Look over the roofing and metal flashings along the chimney, gutters and downspouts for any loose or missing pieces. Secure loose wires, siding, soffit and fascia, be sure to check for loose pieces that may be ripped off by high winds. The soffit panels and fascia aluminum trim can be re-nailed to the wood beneath or riveted to adjoining aluminum pieces to secure them.

You may notice nails protruding out of trim or fascia boards. It is tempting just to hammer them back in, but they will just pull out again. Instead, remove them and replace them with a slightly longer exterior grade ring shank nail or trim screw. Make sure that the fastener is attaching to the surface beneath the trim. If not, you may need to relocate the fastener to a place that will provide holding power. Apply caulking to any open penetration on the exterior to prevent water from entering your home.

Once you have completed the home visual inspection, do the same for your yard. During a heavy rain, look for standing water near your foundation. Take pictures so that you know exactly where to add fill to direct water away from your home. Proper grade slope away from the foundation is one inch per foot for the first six feet. Avoid stacking wood or personal items against the home. Animals and rodents will use this as shelter.

If you are willing to take a few minutes out of your busy day to look over your home thoroughly, it will pay off with less costly maintenance repairs and peace of mind. Remember to run your basement de-humidifiers as the wet season progresses.

Jim Houghtaling C.R.4311                                                                  

        Renew View Custom Trim LLC

    “Stands for Quality Craftsmanship”