Summer Home Maintenance Tips

When the hot summer months linger like they do during the peak of summer, it’s important to be extra vigilant in maintaining the exterior of your home. A home’s exterior can suffer from the increased pressures and stresses that come with summer temperatures. High humidity mixed with high heat can be a catalyst for mold and mildew growth. Get the most out of your home or business by using the following steps and techniques to increase your home or businesses lifespan.

Check the Foundation

Excessive heat can cause extreme fluctuations in some types of foundations. Stone and brick are more susceptible to this process. Look for signs of damage such as cracks, breaks splits in mortar joints and seams. During summer droughts, sagging slabs and other signs of sinkholes can severely damage foundations, which lead to more serious damages in the walls and roof of your structure. Call a licensed and insured foundation contractor right away to prevent more costly repairs.

Check the Walls

Whether you have siding or stucco, you can bet that heat stresses during the summer can cause serious damages. Nails can pull loose from siding and stucco can peel away from metal lathe. Metal fasteners or metal lathe often store higher temperatures from the substrate and create stress between the two surfaces, ensuring siding and lathed stucco peels away from walls. Check for loose siding materials often and call a licensed and insured siding repair specialist when problems are spotted.

Check the Windows and Doors

Swollen windows and doors that don’t open and close well are much more likely to occur during the winter and summer months due to temperature fluctuations outside and inside of the house. When leaky door and window seams add to the effect, problems can become serious. Have a licensed and insured window/door contractor repair problems before rot, mold and mildew wreak havoc on your home or business.

Check the Soffit, Fascia and Drip Edge

As temperatures soar, improperly installed aluminum drip edge, soffit and fascia can bend and warp in high heat situations. Too many nails can often create an “oil can” rippling effect that causes metal materials making them not only look bad but ensuring they leak during summer storms. Call an aluminum repair expert when signs of rippling, bending or warping on metal roofing materials appear.

Asphalt Shingles

The extreme UV rays that occur during the summertime do damage to our asphalt shingles, just like it does to our skin. As asphalt roofing materials age, they become dry and brittle. Signs like curling and cupping shingles can mean your shingles are severely sun damaged and may need to be replaced. Poor attic ventilation may be the culprit as well. Have a licensed and insured roofer inspect your roof once a year to ensure that your shingle roof lasts as long as possible.