A Guide to Preventing Water Damage in Your Home

It can be hard to keep water out of the house. Problems with your plumbing often can cause a lot of moisture and minuscule raindrops can sneak into the house easily by way of tiny cracks in your foundation, in your roof, and in your walls. Even though it may not seem like a couple of drops can cause harm, this excess water is going to penetrate your home’s porous materials fast and result in problems and damage to your structure, growth of mold, and other problems related to humidity. Therefore, it’s a good idea to prevent water damage by waterproofing your house.

You should be careful to make sure you’re taking care of any leaks in your house and any problems with your plumbing, sealing the gaps around windows and doors, adding proper insulation, and other things. The good part about doing these things is that you’re not only going to prevent the water from coming in and causing damage to your property, but you’re also going to cut down on the amount you’re paying to heat and cool your home. Below are some effective ways to prevent water damage to your home.

Waterproof Your Roof

If your roof is in excellent condition, that is the best way to keep your house waterproof. Keeping your roof in the best shape possible is essential to preventing leaks from happening. In order to keep your roof in its top form, you’ll have to do the following:

Inspect & Repair Your Roof

Have someone inspect your roof carefully in early autumn to make sure that you have ample time to do any type of necessary repairs before the first snow starts falling. Replace any tiles that are broken and make sure that you repair any other spots, big or small, on your roof that need fixing so that you can avoid severe damage from water and leaks in your roof.

Inspect & Repair Your Chimney

If your flashing (the sheet metal which keeps your intersection in between your roof and your chimney watertight) is loose, missing, or cracked, water is going leak around your chimney and into your home. This can lead to a lot of problems. So you should invest in flashing that is high quality and remember to put a cap on it if it doesn’t have one already.

Add Insulation to Your Attic

When you have properly insulated your attic, this will help with maintaining the level of moisture and the temperature at optimal levels. It will also help with improving your home’s energy efficiency.

Clean Your Gutters

Debris often blocks drains and downspouts, and this can prevent water from being able to drain from your roof. To stop this from happening, you want to make sure that you are cleaning your eaves, drainpipes, and troughs regularly. This means removing branches and dead leaves from your shingles, scooping out debris from your gutters, washing the small debris from your downspouts using your garden hose, and making provisions for water draining away from your house’s walls.

Remember that when you have water that pools inside your gutters, it means that your downspout’s clogged, and you have to do something so that water won’t spill out and rum down the home’s wall. This can cause a lot of dampness and maybe internal leaks.

It goes without saying that your drainpipes and gutters should be regularly inspected and replaced. If your pipes are rusty or damaged, try and replace them as soon as possible. After you’ve examined your roof and other items that are listed here, you can move onto the other ways water may get into your home.

Waterproof Your Foundations

As was mentioned before, even tiny cracks in the walls of your foundation can let water into your home. Since it is so easy for water to find its way into your home, it’s very important to waterproof your foundations effectively. Here are some simple, yet effective ways of doing just that:

• Repair cracks – Look at your foundations carefully for any types of cracks and take care of them before a lot of water from heavy snow or torrential rains has enough time to come inside your house. You can use caulk for small cracks. If you have bigger gaps, you should use hydraulic cement to fix them. This is a great material for leak-proofing that will keep the water away effectively.
• Direct the water from your foundations – Be sure that your home’s grading is sloping away from your foundations. This can be done by adding a few inches of topsoil or crushed stone around your foundation annually. When you do this, the water will runoff away from your home, instead of pooling directly beside your walls.

Finally, ensure that the openings for wires, ductwork, and pipes in your roof area and beneath your house have been sealed well. You also should check for any gaps where air conditioning ducts and pipes go through your walls, and make sure you’re taking adequate measures to fix any leaks that you find.

Leak-Proof Your Windows and Doors

Rain and snow are able to enter through windows and doors that don’t fit well. In order to waterproof your windows and doors, it’s advised to:

• Put caulk onto both sides of your window to stop water from getting inside.
• If you have windows and doors that don’t close tightly, put weather-stripping on them to seal them.
• Put a cover over keyholes on your door locks so that snow and rainwater stays outside.
• Put storm windows in to give you an extra protective layer against snow and rain.

When you follow the tips above, you are going to weatherproof your house effectively, and reduce your risk for problems with water. You also will lower your amounts of utility bills. Damage to your home by water can also be due to leaky fixtures and pipes, so you’ll want to check on that as well.

Keep an Eye on Your Pipes and Repair When Needed

The time to fix something is not when you have a problem. It’s before you have a problem. So you want to make sure that you are checking your fixtures and pipes regularly. Inspect your home’s plumbing system regularly, and maintain it so that it’s working well and you can avoid issues. If your pipes leak and lead to water damage, you are going to spend a lot of money, along with having the headaches and time wasted. So you want to take necessary precautions for preventing a problem from occurring. Replace any valves or pipes that are rusty or damaged when you notice them, and properly protect them when the weather turns cold.

How efficient different methods are for leak proofing will depend on a variety of factors like the area’s climate conditions, the construction work’s and building material’s quality, the HVAC system’s efficiency, the building’s air tightness, and others. But waterproofing your home can save you a great deal of trouble, so you should make it a priority.

About Gulf Coast Exteriors

GCE Gutters is a residential and commercial gutter service committed to providing professional quality service at a competitively low prices in Fort Myers and Cape Coral Florida. Let GCE Gutters show you how we are becoming the area’s finest gutter cleaning, repair and installation company in Lee County.