The Inside Outside Guys ~ Listening to Your House

From The Detroit News | By Ken Calverley and Chuck Breidenstein

DETROIT, January 25, 2024 ~ For most of us, winter can now be over.

We enjoyed a beautiful white holiday season, and we are now mentally ready for spring.

But the reality is that we have another few months to endure the cold; and so does our house.

It is worth your time to stay aware of cold weather issues that may impact performance and comfort during winter, and items that could lead to required maintenance or expensive repair.

A good place to start is the foundation. You hear the Guys talk about the importance of keeping surface water away from the home.

Proper water management includes gutters of the correct size and configuration, including the downspouts and downspout extensions.

PODCAST:

January 28, 2024 ~ Chuck “The Inside Guy” Breidenstein and Ken “The Outside Guy” Calverly offer the knowledge and resources you need to make the home of your dreams a reality. Catch them every Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to noon on 760 WJR.

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Saturated soils at the house perimeter can freeze, expand and exert tremendous pressure against the foundation walls.

This pressure can cause bowing and vertical cracks that not only undermine the home’s integrity but also may allow water into the basement or crawl space.

Some signs of possible foundation movement include sticking doors and windows or even cracked windows or broken glass seals that allow fogging inside the unit.

You may also witness plaster or drywall cracks in the walls as a result of this movement.

The condition of your roof and attic space may also “speak” to you in a couple of different ways.

The air temperature and humidity in a properly ventilated attic should roughly approximate outdoor conditions throughout the year.

If new snow on your roof is melting due to heat loss from the house, this may be a sign of weak thermal insulation and inadequate ventilation.

A home’s attic should have vents at the lowest and highest parts of the roof such that cold, dry air can enter the space at the lowest point as warmer, wetter, air is exhausted from the ridge, or top, of the roof.

Ice damming is another area of concern. It can destroy shingles at the lower edge of the roof and create active water leaks. While the extreme weathering of Michigan can cause ice dams to occur regardless of properly constructed buildings, there are some common elements in homes that always get them.

Heat lost to the attic from the living space, particularly at the outside walls of the home, creates a situation where roof snow melts, then the water freezes as it hits the cold surface of the roof at the overhang. This ice then acts as a dam, with water collecting above it. Shingled roofs are meant to shed water, not retain it. This water can get under shingles and leak into the home below.

For housing advice and more, listen to “The Inside Outside Guys” every Saturday and Sunday on 760 WJR from 10 a.m. to noon, or contact them at InsideOutsideGuys.com.

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