Your Roof and Siding
Your Roof, The Impact of Ice, Finding a Leak, Minding Your Gutter, Understanding Siding

Your Roof
Most folks are pretty conscientious about maintaining the exterior walls of their homes. On just about any day during good weather, you can drive through a neighborhood and find the sides of at least one home under siege by painters. But rarely do you see anyone on the roof of a home unless the roof is being replaced. For some reason, people just don't pay as much attention to their roofs, which we think is a mistake.

The whole idea of maintenance is to ensure longevity, reduce costs, and improve value. We think this concept should apply to the roof in the same way it does to the walls. In fact, we like to think of the roof as the fifth wall of the home that should be maintained with the same regularity as the walls that support it. With proper care and maintenance, a roof can outlast its warranty without leaking a drop or suffering any ugly damage.

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The Impact of Ice
Did you ever wonder where icicles come from? Did you know that if you have icicles you might have an ice dam as well? And if you have an ice dam, you may soon be fighting a roof leak.

When snow falls on a roof, it seals the roof, which becomes almost airtight. As the house is warmed to a nice toasty temperature, heated air escapes into the attic. As the attic gets warmer, it melts the snow atop the roof, and water rushes downward toward the overhangs. The moment the liquefied snow hits a cold overhang it begins to freeze. The water that freezes after it rolls over the edge becomes icicles.

Water that freezes before it rolls over the edge builds up to create a barrier known as an ice dam, which becomes larger and larger as runoff continues to freeze. Finally, the ice on the overhang widens to the point where it reaches the edge of the attic. At this point, the water remains liquid and the ice dam causes it to back up over the attic where it can leak into the home.

All too often, this is precisely what happens-water held back by the ice dam backs up and leaks into the home. There are other negatives about ice on your roof. Ice buildup can damage rain gutters, causing costly repairs. By preventing ice buildup, you might be able to save your house from being flooded during a freeze and add a little life to your gutters, as well.

To prevent an ice dam, you need to keep the attic cold. Not the house-the attic. If the attic is cold, the snow on the roof won't melt, and ice dams won't form. Here's how to make it happen:

• Don't close off eave and roof vents during the winter. This traps the warm air that melts snow on the roof.
• Fill all penetrations between the living space and the attic area with foam sealant. You can buy it in a spray can. Look for penetrations in the ceiling in the following places (many may be hidden beneath attic insulation): plumbing vents, ventilation ducts, heat registers, electric wiring, and ceiling light fixtures.
• Don't caulk around furnace flues. A flue that contains hot gasses should not come into contact with combustibles such as wood or foam sealant. Contact your local heating or sheetmetal contractor and have a metal draft stop installed. It can be sealed to the pipe and the house frame without creating a fire hazard.
• Check your attic insulation. Be sure that your attic insulation is loose (as opposed to compacted) and that there is a more than sufficient amount up there. Check with your local utility company. Most offer free energy audits. Your local building department is another inexpensive inspection alternative.
• Consider installing an eave-heating device such as heating tape or heating wire. They prevent water from freezing on your eave. Eave heaters operate on extremely low voltage, making them inexpensive to operate.
• An eaveheating device can help avoid ice.
• Install special metal flashings at problem eaves. Ice doesn't stick to the metal as readily as it does to most types of roofing. The nice thing about metal flashings is that they can be made to order by your local heating or sheetmetal contractor. You may be able to save money by looking for a product at your local home center known as "Ice and Water Shield."

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Finding a Leak
The first step in repairing a leak is finding its point of origin. This can be extremely difficult on a flat roof, so we recommend that you hire an industry professional to find and repair a leak in a flat roof. However, on a pitched roof, do-it-yourselfers can find the leak themselves. You'll still need to hire a contractor to repair the leak, but being able to tell the contractor where the leak is saves time and shows the contractor that he or she is dealing with an informed home owner.

While water testing a pitched roof is not a difficult process, it can be time-consuming and tedious. Be prepared to exercise a bit of patience. The process requires two people, one on the roof and one in the attic (or living space below if no attic exists). You also need the following tools:

• 1 ladder
• 1 garden hose
• 1 flashlight

Then follow these steps:

• Use the garden hose to run a modest amount of water over the roof at a point below the area where a leak is suspected.

  Don't run the hose full blast. Don't use a spray nozzle, and don't force the water between the shingles. Doing so may force water into the home, creating the illusion that you've found a leak when, in fact, you did nothing more than temporarily create one.

  Work from the lowest point of the roof (near the eaves or gutters) in an area of about 4 to 6 feet wide. Work your way up the roof a couple of feet at a time. Standing on dry roofing above the water helps prevent a sudden and unexpected slip.

• Station your partner in the attic and tell him or her to holler at the first sign of water.

  The moment your helper sees water, he or she should let you know. A whaling screech will usually do the trick. An inexpensive pair of kids' walkie-talkies allows you to communicate clearly without yelling.

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Minding Your Gutter
You'll be able to stay dry in the rain by keeping your gutters and downspouts properly maintained.

Cleaning gutters and downspouts
Gutters and downspouts filled with debris can back up, causing roof leaks, rot at the overhang, and structural damage.

Once a year, you need to get up on the ladder and give those gutters and downspouts a good cleaning. Gutters that have not been cleaned for a while may be filled with a mud-like substance, which you can scoop out with a small garden trowel or a putty knife. You may even want to invest in a gutter scoop (a plastic trowel-like scoop made especially for cleaning gutters).

After you remove the majority of the debris, flush the rest away using a garden hose with a spray nozzle. If the water pressure at your place is insufficient, you can rent a small pressure washer to help flush out debris.

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Understanding Siding
Water can attack and damage wood siding. Stucco walls crack when the house shifts as winter rains expand soil. Metal siding dents easily. Vinyl siding pits as it oxidizes. Even bricks chip and crack with winter freezes and summer ground settlement.

No surface is perfect; no material perfectly withstands the rigors of nature and the force of the elements. But you can do a thing or two to add life and beauty to your home's siding.