gutters filling with heavy rain from rain storm

Preparing Your Home for Storm Season

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gutters filling with heavy rain from rain stormThe harsh conditions of winter are nearly in the rearview mirror, but we aren’t out of the woods yet. Spring and summer are storm season here in Indiana. Before too long we will be trading in snow and ice storms for heavy winds, rain, and tornadoes (though hopefully not too many).

Wind, rain, and tornadoes can cause some serious damage to your home and put you and your family in danger if you aren’t prepared for what’s to come. Take the time to prepare now, well before storm season hits, to make sure you and your home are ready.

But where should you start when preparing your home for storm season? This quick checklist has four extremely important items that are crucial to check off if you want to have your home as storm-ready as possible.

Get your gutters ready

When you are hit with the first big storm or torrential downpour of the year, you’ll want to make sure your gutters are ready to go. Check to ensure your gutters are clean and clear of any sticks, leaves, debris, and anything else so that rainwater can flow unimpeded through your gutters, down your downspout, and away from your home, where it is less likely to seep in and flood your basement. While you are up there, be sure to check on the gutters themselves. If they are loose or damaged, you’ll want to get your gutters repaired right away to make sure they don’t come off.

Secure shingles and siding

The first heavy wind or tornado that blows through will be sure to expose any damage to your roof or siding. If you have any loose shingles or siding, you can wave goodbye to them as they blow away. It is important to batten down the hatches before the first storm hits. Have a contractor come out for a house call and inspect the condition of your roof and siding and make any necessary repairs before it is too late.

Trim your trees

Winds and rain won’t just blow off your shingles and siding, but limbs and trees too. Loose, weak, or dead limbs, branches, and trees can give way and blow off during storms, and when they do, they can cause some serious damage to your home. There is not much more of a rude awakening than a branch crashing down damaging your roof or breaking through a window. Help avoid this by having a professional landscaper come out to inspect your surrounding trees and do any necessary work.

Prepare an emergency kit

Indiana storms can get pretty nasty. You never know when one is going to knock out your power or force you to seek shelter in your basement. You can prepare for the worst by always making sure you have an emergency kit ready to go if need be. Your emergency kit should be filled with essentials like a first aid kit, flashlights with batteries, a lantern, maybe a little food, and anything else you may and your family may need in a dire circumstance.

As you prepare for storm season, it is so important that your home is up for the challenging weather ahead. Call Lathrop Contracting for all your gutter, roofing, and siding needs, whether it is preparing for storm season or trying to recover from it. Our years of experience working with Indiana homeowners has made us experts in home storm repair.

Call (317) 783-6929 to set up an appointment for a roofing, siding, or gutter estimate today.

Icicles, ice dams and snow on roof and gutters

Best Ways to Prevent Icicles on Your Home

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Icicles, ice dams and snow on roof and guttersIcicles look innocent and beautiful glistening in a winter wonderland, but these frozen drippings can end up being more dangerous and damaging than you may realize.

If you have lived in Indiana for long, you are likely all too familiar with icicles and how they form, but let’s recap: snow and ice on your roof melts during a warm-up, sunny day, or other reasons and begins to drip off your roof and off the sides of your gutters before refreezing once again. Pretty simple stuff.

However, once they do form, the weight they carry can put a tremendous strain on the sides of roofs and gutters they attach to. This can lead them to weigh down, bend, and damage gutters and shingles. The damage they can do can ultimately cause homeowners to have to invest in gutter and roofing repair to prevent further damage from water leaking through their roof.

For homeowners, preventing or minimizing the size or number of icicles from forming is an effective way of maintaining the condition and lifespan of your roof and gutters.

So, the question is, what is the best way to do so? Of course, there is always the do-it-yourself approach of knocking them off with a broom or climbing up on the roof yourself and clearing off snow. But climbing up on the roof yourself in the middle of winter is extremely dangerous and trying to knock icicles loose from the ground can end up damaging your gutters even more if you aren’t careful.

Instead, try these safe and effective long-term solutions to preventing icicles and protecting your roof and gutters.

Secure Chimney Flashing

Does your home have a chimney? If so, it could be contributing to creating icicles. Your chimney flashing, the apron running around the bottom of your chimney, can wear out and crack over time. If it does, warm air and heat from inside your home can eek out and blow across your roof melting snow and ice.

Check out the condition of your flashing, and if you notice signs of deterioration or damage, have a professional come by to replace and secure your flashing. Roof repair isn’t something you want to try and do yourself because of the potential dangers involved, so leave it to the pros.

Improve Attic Insulation

Similar to warm air escaping through chimney flashing, another commonplace for heat to escape is straight through from your attic. If the ceiling of your attic isn’t sufficiently insulation, the warmth of your attic will attribute to melting the snow and ice accumulation directly above it.

As the water rolls off these high points, it will eventually come in contact with cooler areas closer to the edges and freeze again, causing icicles and ice dams. This, fortunately, is a protective measuring you may be able to improve upon yourself by padding your attic ceiling with more insulation.

Keep Gutters Clear

Cleaning out your gutters isn’t anyone’s favorite household chore, but for those that want to prevent significant damage from icicles, it is certainly a worthwhile one. Clean and clear gutters push water rolling off your roof down your waterspout and away from your house. If your gutters are full of sticks, leaves, and other debris, it can prevent water from going down the spout and cause it to spill out the sides.

If this happens during a freeze, ice can compact inside your gutters both clogging them up and forming icicles along the sides, putting even more weight on your gutters than usual. Make sure you are doing whatever you can whenever you can to keep your gutters clear so they can do their job.

Improve Attic Ventilation

Proper attic ventilation helps circulate out warm air inside with cool air outside. This not only regulates the indoor temperature that can help warm air from melting snow and ice on the roof directly above, but a well-placed vent can even push that warm air away from the roof altogether.

If your home doesn’t have a gable vent, whirlybird, or ridge vent in place, this is likely a home improvement project worth taking on to help better regulate the temperature inside your attic.

Need help securing your chimney flashing or in need of some roofing repairs after a long and brutal winter? Leave it to Lathrop Contracting. We proudly serve Indianapolis homeowners with all their roofing, gutter, and chimney repair and installation needs. Call (317) 783-6929 to schedule your free roofing, gutter, or masonry estimate today.

 

[sc_fs_faq sc_id=”fs_faqapxes8vs4″ html=”true” headline=”h2″ img=”” question=”What is the best way to prevent icicles?” img_alt=”” css_class=”” ]Having proper attic insulation and ventilation is important to prevent icicles and ice dams from forming. Doing so keeps warm air from coming in contact with snow and ice on your roof, causing them to melt and refreeze once they reach cooler areas on your roof. Securing your chimney’s flashing will also prevent warm air from leaking out as well.[/sc_fs_faq]

Cleaning Gutters – When and How Homeowners Should Do It

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Cleaning your gutters is one of those dreaded home maintenance tasks that a lot of people put off month after month. It’s usually a dirty job, you’re up and down a ladder all day, and you’ll probably end up wet from using a hose. If you don’t keep up with this critical maintenance though, it can lead to serious trouble! When gutters fill up with leaves and other debris, water can actually damage the roofing and the area behind the gutters. As water pours over the gutters instead of going cleanly down the spouts, this can mean water is getting to your foundation, and possibly into your basement or crawlspace. This overflow can also make any garden beds up by the house wash out.

When to Start Cleaning Gutters

The general recommendation is to clean out your gutters at least twice a year – once in the spring and again in the fall. Although if your house has a lot of trees nearby then you may want to clean them more often, maybe as much as every month or every other month. More frequent cleanings will be less of a chore and go faster than waiting for them to be totally clogged up.

It’s definitely best to tackle cleaning out you gutters when it hasn’t rained in a few days, otherwise the job will be much messier from scooping out waterlogged leaves and muck.

Safety First

Don’t attempt to clean your gutters from the roof. You’d be turning this chore into a needlessly dangerous proposition. A ladder is going to be your best bet, but don’t reach out further than is safe to do – make sure to keep your waist between the rails of the ladder. Be careful when you move the ladder and don’t get into a rush, make sure that you have secure footing before climbing up.

If you’re using an extension ladder, it’s a good idea to get what’s called standoff stabilizers. These will prevent the ladder from lying on the gutters themselves, which can cause damage and help you not need to replace your gutters due to just physical damage.

For collecting the debris (rather than leaving it scattered about your property), you can lay out a tarp underneath your gutters, and just move it along with you when you move the ladder.

Get That Gunk Out!

Using your hands with a pair good gloves, scoop out the leaves and sediment, starting at the downspout. When you’ve cleaned as much as you safely can in one spot, move the ladder on and repeat the process all the way around your house. Once you’ve gotten everything that you can with your hands, use a hose to flush the finer debris, starting at the end opposite the downspout. Let it run for a minute, and ensure that water is coming cleanly through the spout. If it’s just trickling, you know you still have a clog. In that case, run the hose at high pressure right into the top of the downspout to clear it out.

There are some products out there that help you keep some of the physical material and debris out of your gutters that tend to clog them frequently. However, very few of these are also maintenance free, so be prepared to do a little bit of cleaning doing no matter what option you choose.

Gutter Guards - Keep From Cleaning Gutters

DIY Gutter Maintenance

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It’s likely you’ve overlooked your gutters throughout the past year or two. You should routinely check on your home’s gutters to avoid major repairs. Leaving them unnoticed can result in blockage and leaks which will ruin your gutters and even worse, your home. Grab a pair of work gloves and a bucket as this will make this task much easier and less messy. Non-slip shows and safety glasses/goggles are recommended.

  1. Work away from the drain outlet and scoop out the buildup in your gutters with a narrow garden trowel or gutter scoop. Don’t worry about making it spotless as that comes next.
  2. Use your water hose to wash out your gutters and work your way towards the drain outlet. You may need to use a scrub brush to remove stubborn, encrusted dirt. A high-pressure hose nozzle is recommended.
  3. Spray down your drain outlet and/or use a plumber’s auger (snake) to clear debris out of it. You can use your hose as well with the water on if your nozzle isn’t too big.

Ensure your gutters aren’t clogged or building up debris–you’ll be better off in the long run. There are services out there that will even clean your gutters for you. You can save yourself the trouble of having to deal with mosquitos, corrosion, basement leaks, cracked wall foundations, moisture damage to your home’s siding and roof, etc.

Installing a new gutter system is already costly enough. Don’t add to your repairs by having to address other areas of your house just because of your gutters.

If you see that you might need your gutters serviced or aren’t sure, call a professional to have them inspected. If you aren’t comfortable working from a ladder or on your roof, or if your home’s gutters are quite high from the ground, call a professional.

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