Owning a home is a mark of pride that contains a sense of triumph in modern times. Unfortunately, homeownership comes with many challenges. Upkeep is a continual task to ensure the safety and value of your home persists. One particular challenge is the effect that different types of weather can have on your house. Whether the weather is hot or cold, various meteorological events can cause damage to your home.
How Harsh Weather Conditions Can Damage Your Property
Wind
Perhaps the most obvious form of weather patterns that cause damage, winds of extreme power from hurricanes and tornadoes are capable of ripping gutters from rooflines and tearing shingles from rooftops. Even lesser winds are capable of breaking tree limbs that can either fall onto homes or be swept against them. The result is often leaking roofs or damaged down gutters. Shutters and siding can be ripped away from exterior walls as well.
Hail
A single hailstorm is capable of causing damages that pile up into millions of dollars. Hailstones of moderate size are capable of punching holes in a roof’s shingles due to their weight and the force with which they plummet from the sky. Larger hailstones can do even more damage. Hailstorms can create dents in aluminum siding, gutters, or shingles, cracking vinyl siding, wood shakes, and asphalt roofs. Lightweight vinyl siding is at particular risk because of its lightweight design that hailstones can chip or crack.
Rain
While mere rain generally does not result in structural damage, water leaking into a home through roof or wall gaps can result in messes of great expense to clear up. Such water can lead to damaged ceilings, floors, and walls. It can result in problems with mildew and mold throughout a house. Further, gutters can be overloaded by a cumulation of too much rainwater in too short a time period. This leads to rain hammering into the ground where the foundation can be damaged over time. Further, rain can result in flooding. This leads to its own problems. Use of a basement waterproofing sealer can help protect your home from these issues.
Heat
Even a clear day with a shining sun can cause damage in certain areas of your home that are susceptible to it. When heat persists for prolonged periods, artwork, furniture, and rugs can be damaged. Colors fade and fibers become brittle. The foundation can receive damage because the heat has a drying nature. The foundations of houses use the soul around them as a support system. Heating ground shrinks the soil as moisture evaporates. As the soil separates from the footing, the foundation can receive damage. The top of the house is also at risk. Roofs are highly susceptible to damage from heat; they can warp and expand so that shingles crack and cause leaks. Hardwood floors can also buckle and crack. Pipes that are not properly sealed have a greater likelihood of leaks or even bursting. The increased water usage, along with greater pressure, is caused by garden hoses, swimming pools, automatic sprinklers, and general operations.
Cold
Wintry temperatures are capable of affecting homes even without precipitation. When conditions are frigid, pipes freeze and can burst. This leads to flooding in basements or other rooms of the house. The pipes at greatest danger of freezing are those that connect to outdoor spigots as well as those running through attics and walls without insulation. That is without precipitation. With snow piling up in multiple feet, physical support systems can be overwhelmed. Roofs can buckle or have holes open up and gutters can bend and break. Another danger is accumulated snow on overhanging branches of trees. These can become overburdened, breaking and falling onto houses to wreak further havoc. Ice that has built up is another potential threat. It can creep beneath shingles and damage roofs, leading to leaks that will eventually melt to enter a home’s interior such as the attic.
To be a proper shelter, a home must shield you from the elements. Proper, regular upkeep and a close eye to maintenance details will assist you in ensuring your home continues to fulfill this duty. Every weather type can create a risk to your home. Most of all, those damages that permit water to enter and wreak havoc can be extremely problematic.