“Sleigh bells ring, are you listening? In the lane, snow is glistening. A beautiful sight, we’re happy tonight, walking in a winter wonderland.” As the song suggests, winter is upon us, and unfortunately, snow is not as beautiful and unproblematic as most Christmas carols like to portray. It makes the roads a mess, brings the cold with it, and can cause damage to your home. Its weight can cause damage to your roofing, when it melts it can clog your gutters, and the water can seep into your home. While snow is unfortunately unavoidable, the problems it might bring are not. Here are 4 ways to winterize your roof and home:
The first and most important is to check your gutters. The fallen leaves can clog your roof, even after they are all on the ground. Even if you have already checked this fall, you should always do it before your first snow. You also want to check to ensure that critters and insects are not causing obstructions with nests or hives. To prevent damage to your roofing, you should clear out your gutters and downspouts. Otherwise, water can back up and may impact the underlying materials.
While you are up on your roof inspecting your gutters, you better do a quick roof inspection as well. Give your roof a thorough once-over to check for damage to shingles, vents, flashing, and other roofing materials. If you notice damage, give us at Sterling Contracting and Roofing a cool, and we will come to do an assessment.
Since we are doing inspections, you should also do an inspection of your attic. You should look to see if there are any existing damages that could potentially get worse over the winter, like leaks or structural damage. If there is structural damage, the weight of the snow could cause your roof to cave in. It is better to be safe than sorry.
The last precaution you should take is to have a plan for snow removal. While some snow storms may not amount to much and may even be gone by the next day, there may be snow storms that accumulate a lot of snow. If you get to endure one of these seemingly never-ending snow storms, it is important to have a plan to remove some of the snow.
While winter can be a joyous time with the holidays to celebrate, it is important to take precautions so that potential snow-related damages don’t occur. For more information or to schedule a roofing inspection, call your friends at Sterling Construction today!
