The days are getting shorter. Kids are back to school, and the summer heat has finally broken. As the birds venture south for their warm-weather homes, it’s time to pay attention to your own home to ensure it’s ready for the demands of seasonal changes. If you fail to prepare your roof for the changes of autumn and winter, the cold weather may be the least of your worries. To avoid roofing-related headaches, spend some time on seasonal roof care and preparation.
Here’s our checklist for fall and winter roof maintenance:
Inspect Roof, Gutters, and Attic
Look up. No, we aren’t talking about admiring the changing leaves or the gently falling snow. Look at your roof and gutter system. Check for crooked or missing shingles, warped roof lines, sagging gutters, or anything that looks out of place. A visual inspection can catch problems early before they grow and become more involved and more expensive to fix. If your roof is older or you aren’t sure what to look for, consider a professional roof inspection.
Fall or winter is also an excellent time to check your attic. With the cooler temperatures, you won’t have to brave unbearable heat to check out this part of your home. Look for damp spots, water stains, and pinholes of light coming through the roof. Take a flashlight to help you spot signs of pest infestation, including bird or animal nests, rodent droppings, or termite dust.
Check Insulation
While you are in the attic looking for damage and pests, check your insulation. You are entering the season where you will be running your heating system. You don’t want heated air to escape through your attic or roof. Insulation is the blanket that keeps your home comfortable and cozy. Just like an insufficient blanket on your bed will mean cold nights, insufficient insulation will mean a cold home. It also means higher energy bills as your heating system works harder to keep your home at your desired temperature.
Additionally, insulation problems can lead to ice dams, which can occur when snow on your roof melts due to rising heat from the home and then refreezes in cooler temperatures. Ice dams can damage your roof and create safety issues from falling snow and ice. Roofing contractors in Salt Lake City and around Utah stay busy all winter with damage caused by snow and ice dams. Ensuring your attic is sufficiently insulated can help prevent you from needing an emergency visit from your residential roofer.
Research what sufficient insulation is for your climate and ensure you have at least that much. Check the condition of the insulation to see if it has degraded, collapsed, or crumbled.
Leave Attic Vents Open
Some homeowners see the vents in their attic and focus on warm air leaving through these openings. Thinking they are helping their home stay warm, they seal off the vents for the winter. Do not block or close off attic vents. Your home needs to breathe. These small openings allow your home to naturally “exhale” moist air. If wet air can’t escape, it can lead to mold. These vents also prevent your attic from trapping heated air, which can heat the roof and cause ice dams.
Clean Gutters
When the morning air turns crisp and the trees turn yellow, piles of colored leaves soon follow. Those leaves fall into your gutters, causing blockages that affect the gutter system’s ability to do its job. If the gutters can’t properly carry water from your roof away from your home, you risk damage to your roof, foundation, and gutter system. Late fall or early winter is the time to clean your gutters. Remove those beautifully colored leaves before they cause ugly problems for your home.
Inspect Chimney
Chestnuts roasting over an open fire will be hard to enjoy if your living room is full of smoke. Check your chimney before you use your fireplace. Start by looking up through the chimney to see if you find any blockages, damaged mortar, or other signs of a problem.
From the roof, you’ll want to ensure your chimney cap is undamaged and firmly secured. A chimney cap prevents rain, snow, birds, insects, and other debris from entering your home through the chimney. If you need assistance inspecting your chimney cap, contact a local roofing company. If you want to attempt it yourself, do this task when your roof is dry and before any ice forms. When climbing on your roof, keep safety as your top priority. You don’t want to miss the ski season because you’ve got a cast on your leg.
Plan for Snow Removal
Snow build-up may make your home look like the image on the front of a holiday card, but the damage it can cause will send chills down your spine. In addition to ice dams, the weight of heavy snow can put more strain on your roof’s support structure than it can handle.
Research how to best remove snow from your roof. Buy the proper tools now so you have them when needed. If you want the safer, easier option, find a roof snow removal service to do the work so you can stay safe and warm inside with a cup of hot cocoa.
The transition from warm weather to fall and winter should serve as a reminder to prepare your roof for the cold, wet, snowy weather just around the corner. By taking some time now to prepare your home, you’ll avoid problems and feel warm and secure in your home all winter long. Then, you can hit the slopes or curl up in front of a fire without worrying about what’s going on with your gutters and roof.
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Infographic
As birds migrate south for warmer weather, it’s time to prepare your home for the changing seasons. Explore this infographic for a fall and winter roof maintenance checklist to prevent issues.
