Fall home maintenance. Having a house means that you get all the benefits of owning a home — decorating and renovating as you please, stability, a place to call yours… but that also means you have all the responsibilities of home ownership as well.
When the seasons change, so do the needs of your house. With new weather elements causing different effects on the exterior of your home, there are steps that you can take, as a homeowner in Barrie Ontario, to maintain your home and protect your investment.
Fall Home Maintenance Areas To Focus On
As you look for fall home maintenance tips to prepare for those southern Ontario winters, there are some major areas of your home’s exterior to focus on.
By prioritizing the areas where attention is needed, you can make the most of your time and know that you at least got the important tasks out of the way by the time the not-so-great weather hits.
1. Eavestroughs
As beautiful as autumn leaves are, they make your eavestroughs more susceptible to debris and clogging as the seasons change and foliage begins to fall.
As soon as leaves do begin to fall to the ground, it’s important to consistently check on your gutters, removing leaves as they collect around the entire roof of your home.
This is why a leaf guard system for your eavestroughs is your best friend.
Leaf Gutter Guard Systems
Gutters are a part of your home that you don’t necessarily notice, but they can play a major role in the readiness of your home for fall and winter.
As the leaves begin to fall, your gutters suddenly fill much more quickly with debris if you have the typical gutter system for your home.
Enter: the leaf guard system. A new leaf guard gutter system added to your home can be a major time-saver and, quite possibly, a damage-saver, since clogged gutters often lead to ice dams.
But wait.
There’s more that you can do to prepare your home for fall.
For most homeowners, their home’s original eavestroughs were installed in sections, leaving the system susceptible to cracks and other breaks in the seams. This is where the seamless eavestrough system comes in.
A seamless eavestrough lowers the likelihood that your eavestrough will leak, reducing the risk of subsequent water damage.
Benefits of the seamless eavestrough
2. Insulated Windows
For many families, a new set of insulated, energy-efficient windows is a project that takes time to plan and save for.
But if you’re ready to make some changes to your home today, a great fall readiness upgrade can be the installation of new windows. Try to find ones that offer a lifetime warranty and are energy-efficient.
3. Siding
For most homes, the exterior has siding to protect the house itself from the damaging elements outside.
When thinking about all your fall home maintenance tasks, be sure to add siding inspection to the list. This means that you should check your home’s exterior for cracks or holes and have them repaired.
If you’re prepping your home for fall, consider replacing the siding on your home with an option that doesn’t allow the heat within your home to escape during the colder months.
The most common options are aluminum siding and vinyl siding, both of which offer fantastic energy-efficiency benefits, including reduced heating and cooling costs.
Our foam-backed vinyl siding options are engineered for extreme subzero temperatures (perfect for those southern Ontario winters!).
Likewise, the new options for both vinyl and aluminum siding help keep the heat out during the humid summers.
If that wasn’t enough smart design, aluminum and vinyl siding is installed with tiny venting holes as well, which allow the air to circulate, preventing the growth of mold or mildew.
4. Masonry Alterations
Masonry alterations can actually save you money in addition to updating the look of your home. Yep, that’s right!
By sealing up the nooks and crannies that exist in your old masonry, you reduce your home’s direct exposure to the elements, saving you money on heating and cooling throughout the year.
The reason why it’s best to tackle this task before fall?
The best time to have masonry completed on your property is late spring through early fall. This allows the optimal conditions for installation, but it also prepares your unfinished or outdated home for the harsher conditions of winter.
5. Structural Readiness
We also recommend checking on the structural areas of your home, including your foundation and interior supports.
As for the exterior, you can also include the supports, stairs, and railings on your porch or deck as part of your checklist of fall home maintenance tasks.
Get Your Home Fall-Ready
There you have it! Our fall home maintenance tips.
You might be feeling overwhelmed with the number of tasks you need to cover before the seasons really begin to change. Home maintenance is a breeze when you have 20 years of it under your belt, but if you’re a new homeowner tackling all these tasks yourself, it can be daunting .
Here at Weaver Exterior, we are determined to help homeowners in the southern Ontario area prepare their home for the seasons, protect their investment, and create a home they love.
We offer exterior services including eavestrough upgrades, gutter guard installation, masonry services, and siding installation and repair all throughout southern Ontario.
And when you work with us there’s warranty too!
Want a quote? Contact us about your home improvement project and we’ll provide you with a free estimate, or use our interactive quote tool to get started.