Download your coupons and save on carpet cleaning and other services.
Request your carpet care guide and learn how your capeting and flooring can last for many years to come.
Download it now!
Check For Ice Dams On The Roof
A quick freeze-thaw cycle can cause major damage to the inside of your home’s interior walls and ceilings. When heat from the interior of a building with a sloped roof escapes into the attic space, it warms the underside of the roof. Meanwhile, the roof eaves outside the heated space remains a colder temperature. As snow accumulates on the rooftop, it melts over the warmer portion of the attic and runs down the roof. When it encounters the cold edge of the roof it refreezes. The refrozen water along the roof edge creates an "ice dam" that leads to water seeping under the roofing material and into the interior walls.
The first thing to do is to get the snow off the roof. Caution... Any person on the roof during the winter is risking serious injury. You can also cause serious damage to the roof if it is old and unstable. If you have an ice dam forming on your roof contact professionals to help is the best bet. However, you can try some simple strategies to remove the ice dam from the eaves.
One is to run a hose to the roof above the problem and let a stream of water flow over the ice until it cuts a channel to the edge of the roof line. This channel will allow the melting snow and ice to flow away off the roof. Another method is to fill panty hose with ice salt. Place this salt tube over on the ice dam and allow it melt it away. This takes some time but is very effective. Be sure to cover plants and shrubs below to protect them from any salt residue that might hit it.
Remove Snow Away From Your Foundation
The most frequent cause of water in your basement during the spring is from drainage problems outside and around the home. Older basements are full of cracks due to years of shifting and settling, poor drainage outside allows melting snow and ice water to seep into the basement causing unwanted water damage. Left unchecked it can cause major financial loss and unhealthy mold accumulation.
In Michigan, your basement is probably leaking because the soil surrounding the foundation has become over saturated due to thawing closest to the brick or concrete first. After a long, cold winter, the heat exchange from the inside to outside walls in the foundation softens the soil allows water to seep through the cracks. Remember, water finds its own level and it will flow to the cracks first.
First, remove the ice and snow away from the house, especially if you have shrubs and landscaping next to the exterior walls. Plant roots are natural paths for water to follow into the ground and to the foundation.
Next check your gutters to make sure they are working properly and leading water away from the foundation. Any area that leads to pooling is a source of danger to your foundation. With nowhere else to go, the water will leak into your basement, eventually penetrating the walls and causing serious damage.