Gone are the warm summer days. Now, fall has arrived, and the leaves are changing colour. There’s the promise of winter in every breath. But before you start carving those pumpkins, there are a few home maintenance things you shouldn’t overlook. Autumn is a pivotal season for protecting your roof from damages. After all, winter is one of the hardest seasons for your roof to endure, so if you want to get the most out of your roof, you need to start preparing now, in fall.
Here are tips to help prepare your roof for Ottawa’s fall:
Clean Out The Gutters
When you fail to clean the gutters, you could end up seeing a waterfall cascading down the side of your home—and that’s not good. That could lead to water in your basement, since the water is spilling right to the foundation. Cleaning out the gutters is especially important in the fall because it helps prevent ice damming in the winter.
Having trouble scraping out the bottom of the gutter? You can take a regular household plastic spatula to remove the debris congesting the eavestroughs. It’s an easy way to get the job done. And if you are tired of getting up on a ladder to remove junk from the gutters, you might want to install a gutter guard.
Get Rid of Twigs, Leaves, and Other Things
You might think that leaves and other debris on the roof is a natural sight. You would be wrong. See, whenever there is leaves, branches, and other stuff cluttered atop your roof, you are inviting moisture to pool and sit and stagnate. All that trapped water is going to lead to mould and mildew growth. Eventually, the shingles will get pushed upwards by the moss and mould, exposing the underlayment to the elements.
If you are wary of getting up on the roof to remove debris, hire a professional roofer.
Have Your Roof Inspected
Though roof inspections can be done any time of the year, it is smart to have one scheduled for after the summer. This will allow the inspector to find any damages that could have occurred from a storm.
Plus, inspection finds any issues that you may accidentally miss when checking yourself. Some problems inspections locate include:
- Dry rot
- Leaking around chimneys, skylights, dormers, and vents
- Missing gutter aprons
- Damaged vents
- Cracked roof cement
- Heavy tar patchwork
- Missing nails
- Failing, warping, or rusting flashing
- and other problems
Don’t leave such problems unresolved through the winter, since the risk of water damage increases.
Repair Damaged Shingles
Things like curling shingles, missing nails, granules in the gutter, and other problems mean that your shingles need to be repaired or replaced. You can replace small sections of the roof, if necessary. Just do not leave ripped shingles in disrepair before winter, since freezing and thawing could cause leaks.
Bottom Line
Fall might be getting warmer around the globe, but that doesn’t mean you can skimp on doing routine maintenance to protect your roof from wintertime. In Ottawa, things still get rainy, damp, and chilly in the fall. Be sure to get your roof inspected and repaired before the freeze and thaw cycles begin!
