Follow These Home Maintenance Tips as Summer—and Hail Season—Ends
The end of the hail season is a major relief for homeowners. Here in San Antonio, we had a busy hail season, with multiple storms bringing significant hail damage throughout Central Texas. But as the hail season closes, it’s crucial not to get complacent. We highly recommend following these end of summer home maintenance tips to ensure your roof is in excellent condition and your home is ready for the months ahead.
At Dolan Roofing & Construction, we’ve seen more than a few busy hail seasons, but hail damage is only the beginning of the story. If you leave roofing problems unaddressed, it can lead to major issues down the line! Keep reading for our top tips, and download our checklist here to follow along as you complete your home maintenance following the hail season.
Check Your Roof
As the hail season ends, you’ll want to make sure your roof made it through the summer unscathed. Inspecting your roof is one of the most important end of summer home maintenance tasks, making it the first of our tips.
You may be able to spot some signs of storm damage yourself, such as loose or missing shingles, dented shingles or siding, and buildup of asphalt granules. However, the best way to check your roof for hail damage is to schedule an inspection from a professional roofer.
Inspect Your Chimney
If your home has a chimney, make sure it’s clean, working properly, and in good repair. Leaks and creosote buildup can be dangerous, so this is a crucial maintenance task to complete on your home each year.
Look for signs of structural damage or potential blockages. Then test your damper to make sure it operates smoothly.
Trim Branches
While there’s little you can do to prevent hail and wind damage to your roof, you can protect it from debris by maintaining other parts of your property. In particular, keeping tree branches trimmed back is essential to protecting your roof from punctures and impact damage. As summer closes out, make sure any overhanging or loose tree branches are cut back away from your home to avoid problems.
Trimming branches can also help to reduce the amount of leaves that enter your gutters.
Clean Your Gutters
Your home’s drainage system depends on a well-functioning, clean gutter system. Gutter cleaning is an essential part of home maintenance. A few tips for gutter cleaning as part of your home maintenance tasks with summer ending:
- Practice good ladder safety
- Take care not to damage or bend soft metals
- Remove all debris from both gutters and downspouts, if possible
- Look for signs of hail damage
Check for Air Leaks
Cracks and gaps around windows and doors can cause significant energy waste. Air leaks in your home will cause cool air to escape in the summer and warm air to escape in the cooler months, both of which can significantly impact your energy bill. Use caulk and weather stripping to seal open and drafty areas.
Change Filters
Maintaining good airflow and filtration in your home is critical for protecting your family’s health. Replace all furnace and AC air filters to keep the air in your home. Some attic ventilation systems may also have filters, so it’s a good idea to replace these as well.
Replacing filters will not only improve the quality of air in your home, but help air to flow more smoothly. Good ventilation throughout your home is key to reducing moisture building and problems like mold, mildew, and rot in your attic and elsewhere.
Download Our Checklist of Summer Home Maintenance Tips!
As summer ends, the cooler—and wetter—weather of winter will be upon us before you know it. To help you follow along with these end of summer home maintenance tips, we’ve made a handy maintenance checklist for you to follow along.
And if you notice signs of damage to your home or roof, now is the time to book a professional inspection! Call Dolan Roofing today.
