Visual Roofing Look-Over

Over the winter, a lot can happen to your roof, and spring is the time to make sure small problems don’t lead to catastrophic ones.  There are many reasons snow can damage your roof; one is an inadequate amount of insulation in the attic.  The heat from the living area of the house makes it into the attic, causing snow to melt then refreeze into ice that lifts the shingles off of the roof.  The damage to the shingles is usually most evident toward the bottom of the roof slope by the eavestroughs.  The water runs down the roof and freezes down toward the end where there isn’t the heat from the attic warming the water, so it freezes.  If you didn’t notice an ice build up during the winter, you can still see the results in the spring.  Shingles will be slightly lifted, and the edges of the shingles will have a more worn out look than the unaffected shingles.  If this is happening, you’ll want to get more insulation in the attic rafters, including covering the joists since wood transfers heat.

Air Conditioning Check-Up

Your air-conditioning unit hasn’t had to do much over the winter months, but things happen that could affect its effectiveness that you’ll want to check in the spring.  While unlikely, there could have been snow and ice damage to the condenser unit that sits outdoors.  If ice caused damage, you’d be able to see deformations where the ice fell and bent a fan blade.  A bent fan blade should be fixed before you use the air conditioner.  A bent fan blade causes the fan to spin out of balance, which can cause more substantial damage if left alone.  Snow would be harder to detect as a culprit but is more unlikely in any case.  If there is damage, you’ll need an affordable and reliable ac repair service to help you as these units are not generally self-serviceable.

Foundation Inspection

The foundation of your home is literally holding your house up, so if it gets damaged, you’re looking at massive repair costs.  As with most maintenance issues in your home, problems start small and then grow into much more significant issues if ignored.   You’re going to want to walk around your home and see if any minor cracks are forming in the concrete foundation blocks.  Sometimes small cracks are evidence of huge problems, and you’ll want to have an expert come out and take a look as soon as possible.  In the meantime, seal the cracks with a flexible concrete patch to keep water from getting into the concrete, destroying the foundation.