Operation Safe House: How to Prepare for and Prevent Springtime Home Damage
Springtime is full of beauty – cool breezes in the air, sunshine warms the day, and flowers are in peak bloom. But when it comes to seasonal changes and protecting your home, the warmer months aren’t all fun and games. Along with the perfect weather comes a host of problems that can damage your home if you don’t take steps to prevent it. Here is how to keep your safe house.
Today, we’re diving into how to keep your home safe from some of the biggest threats of the season. Here we go!
Wind Damage
Image Credit: Extreme Storm Solutions (www.extremestormsolutions.com)
Spring ushers in warmer temperatures and it’s hard to complain about those beautiful sunny days. Unfortunately, unpredictable weather and fierce storms also tend to accompany this otherwise sweet time of year. Strong winds, heavy rains, and raging thunderstorms can all create conditions that are hazardous to your home. Mother nature can easily damage your roof and siding, causing serious problems that are difficult and/or expensive to fix.
How can you stop it from happening? Well, you can’t control the weather, but you can control something else. Performing routine maintenance on your home – checking your roof for loose, worn, or broken shingles, for example – is one step that you CAN take to minimize issues. Don’t think a missing shingle is a problem? Think of the exterior of your home like a suit of armor; it can only protect your home well if it doesn’t have any holes in it!
Safe House involves removing Tree Limbs
In addition to the forces of nature wreaking havoc on your home itself, those spring storms can also damage your home through its surroundings – namely, nearby trees and other large objects. Overhanging branches and limbs can scrape and grind against your house, and may even ultimately fall, which might break windows or cause significant damage to your roof and siding.
To avoid the external erosion of your home by scraping branches, consider having a professional trim your trees as necessary to keep them from coming into contact with your house.
Insects & Vermin
After a long winter’s nap, all manner of creatures that have spent the winter fast asleep are suddenly awakened – and hungry. Arboreal critters like squirrels and chipmunks may seek refuge in your chimney, around your gutters, and even inside if they can find a way in. Burrowing animals like voles and badgers can dig holes alongside your foundation, creating new avenues for water to seep into your home. And then, of course, you have insects like carpenter ants, carpenter bees, and termites, which can dig into the very framework of your house!
Image Credit: Basic Chimney Sweep (www.basicchimneysweep.com)
There’s no easy way to prevent most of these issues (except the insects – regular treatments can be highly effective) and they can sometimes be hard to detect! The key is to perform regular inspections around your house, and investigate any changes immediately. For example, if you notice a water leak in the basement where it was previously dry, you’ll want to uncover the source immediately; otherwise, it will only get worse!