Summer checkup
When the summer comes around, that means it’s a great time of year to start looking over your home and checking for any effects of poor insulation. Here’s a simple list of the things that you could be looking for in your own house.
- Exterior – Make sure that your gutters are clear, clean, and downspouts are working to shed water away from the foundation of your house.
- Sump/Drain – Check your sump to ensure it is working properly so in the event of a significant rainfall you can be assured that any water getting into your drain tile will be pushed out from under your house. Also, pour some water down your basement drain to both check that it is not plugged and to fill the trap, so sewer gas does not draft up into the house.
- Windows – remember all that ice and condensation on your windows over the winter? If you didn’t have any, congratulations, you’ve got good windows but for many who’s windows may not be as insulated or potentially have lost their insulation capacity condensation and ice build-up is a big issue in our part of the country. If you had significant ice or condensation, you should take a look at the frame of the window to check for mold and to see if any damage has been done by the water when it warmed up.
- Attic – If you had ice dams, this is the place to check for damage. If possible, get into the attic and check the areas where the ice dams occurred. There could be potential damage to the roof sheathing as well as water damage to the insulation underneath. The damage may not be visible from the outside or in the room below where the ice dams were, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t any.
In the event that you have real concerns, the best idea is to hire a certified home inspector to come and take a look at things to give you a professional assessment. Some good diagnostic work can give you peace of mind and also head off potential long-term issues.
If you want to see what the air seal of your home is like we can perform a test that will show how much air is escaping your home and from what locations that will help us determine areas where we can improve and help improve the window condensation and ice-dam issues.
