Expert Advice To Prevent Water Damage To Your Home During The Winter
Winter weather brings cold temperatures and plenty of precipitation, making it a season primed for water damage to your home. Pipes can freeze and burst, ice dams can form on roofs, and ice and snow build-up and meltwater can easily cause water damage problems in the spring. Thankfully, water damage restoration experts can help prevent and repair such damage.
These maintenance tips can help protect your property from water damage in the winter months:
Shut Off The Water
If you’re heading out of the house for a few days, turn off your main water supply. Burst pipes and flooding are the worst cause of water damage in the winter, and they can happen more frequently than you’d expect. When the house is cold, especially if the power is out or the heat is turned off, the pipes can easily freeze, crack, and eventually cause flooding when the ice thaws.
If you’re going away, turn off your main water supply, flush your toilets, and open a couple of taps in your sinks. Get a friend or neighbour to check in when they can. Your home insurance policy will outline the precautions you must take to keep your policy valid for water and property damage.
Check Exterior Problem Areas
Clean your gutters before winter starts. Your gutters allow proper drainage from melting ice and snow on your roof. This prevents damaged and leaky roofs. It’s also important to make sure your gutters are draining away from your home. You don’t want water pooling up by the foundation.
Check your windows for old caulking and clogged weep holes. Clean the weep holes and replace the caulking if necessary to avoid water damage around your windows.
Keep Your Attic Well-Insulated.
A properly insulated attic will keep the warm air in your home and prevent the formation of ice dams on your roof. Ice dams can break gutters and push water under shingles, causing water damage to your roof and the interior of your home.
Winter can be exhausting with snow removal, poor walking and driving conditions, and, of course, frigid temperatures. So avoid the extra work and stress of water damage restoration by taking the steps to prevent water damage in your home this winter.
