Oh, the birds are singing ... the flowers are beginning to bloom ... I think you are actually putting your parka (uh, what are you expecting from WI?) .. But is it outside? Missing shingles? Crack of foundation? What are you doing now? In order to prepare your home for the warm climate and use it to evaluate the damage done in the Old Man winter, I will introduce some tips from Dana Wilson of Safeguard Home Inspection.
1) Influence of blocking of ice. As water penetrated and the snow melting, what should you look for inside and outside? Ice dams are actually compressed snow on your roof and are melting due to the warmth from the house and the coldness of the outside / snow. This melted snow falls under the roof board (especially damaged or missing), you can enter the top of a roof paper or into a gutter and then back up. We must confirm that drainage grooves are properly constructed (MUST). When the ice is dammed up, there are water marks on the ceiling and walls of the house, there are ice "waterfalls" overflowing the clogged gutters and moist walls to the basement!
Dana says that you need to be very careful when you cut out the icicles, as weight can pull play, break the window (one of Dana's clients!), Or you yourself It was!
2) Spring is a good time to look for the penetration of water from underground to the roof. Water follows the path of disease resistance and descends from the roof toward the underground. Dana used an example of an ant farm as an illustration ... please check the basics of the canal and damp walls. If you have this you would want to confirm that your garden is leaning from the foundation of the house: 1-3 "Tilt more than 3" from the house. Please avoid properly tilted dirt. Your house needs to breathe (this will be the topic of the upcoming show). To concretely consider that there is no landscaping on the foundation of your house, Dana proposed to seal it with parentheses to prevent water leakage.
3) Time to think about air conditioning. Please confirm that the unit is a LEVEL unit. Please place on a tough platform like a concrete / stone platform. Because it is not dirty, the unit may sink down. Remove foreign objects accumulated in the surroundings. Turn on the unit and let it run for 30 minutes. When running, it should sound like any other electrical appliances. If there is no scrap or "funny" noise, please call the expert to confirm. After running for 30 minutes, take the thermometer and check the temperature of the air coming out of the vent. It must be a nice cold temperature (approximately 55 - 60 degrees). Once again, if there is a problem, please tune up. You also need to check foam insulation around the copper pipe leading to the outer unit. This is intact.
4) Insects that come out in spring. Bees, carpent ants, termites, and other pests begin gathering to find a new house "nesting" in the spring. It is drawn to a damp environment. If you are having insect problems, please deal immediately (ice damage, leaked roof ...)
5) Punch list of what I wanted to do before the last winter hit. Keep this year's budget and make better preparations for the next winter. Make sure that your roof, tree / branch overhang, foundation "problem", grading ... all good things make better preparations for next year. Dana also proposed two things. With all three projects always "keep honest," all projects (especially big and expensive) will consider hiring an inspector to make sure that the corner is not cut and cut Work is done properly. This added cost helps you save thousands of dollars of time and energy consumption (dealing with the main problem (that is, if you do not clean drains, you have to remove the drywall, insulation) It may not be the case to clean the gutter on your roof and restore some shingles ...). There are even companies that do maintenance work in spring and autumn and take care of this. It is worth hundreds of dollars to save your thousands of ways!
No. Let's go out there.
