How to Winter-proof your Home

With the weather already throwing us into random days of heavy rains and gale winds the weather tightness of our homes has been thrust to the top of our minds. The recent flood gave us an op-portunity to see where water collected and where drainage and leaks may be in need of attention. If it hasn’t been top of your mind, take this as an opportunity to reflect on how your home and section performed in intense rain and consider if it could be at risk of future flooding or leaking. We tend to take the functioning of our properties for granted but when did we last check the drains, flashings, gutterings, roof ridges and loose tiles for potential ingress areas?

If there are issues, follow through and have repairs carried out, in order to pro-tect your investment and future resale instead of pushing it aside and hoping it doesn’t become an issue again. Left un-dealt with, it only comes back as a much bigger issue and recent experience has seen this cause one of my owners heart-ache with 2 crashed contracts, and in fact it was a neighbours drainage issue caus-ing the problem.

Moisture and weather tightness issues are on buyer’s and banks radars more now than what we’ve seen in recent years. If your home has a plaster finish construction, regardless of what the plas-ter is over, and regardless of whether it is 2 years, 12 years or 20 years old, plan and engage in an annual moisture check regime as part of your on-going mainte-nance plan. If any issues arise, you know they are only recent and localized, easier to remedy as opposed to unforeseen for years with a huge remedial plan required resulting in greater expense and some-times litigation. There are many compa-nies who do non-invasive moisture checks which are quite reasonable. I can’t stress enough how important this is in our very risk conscious environment. When it comes to buying, in many cases, buyers do not have the final say on what they can or can’t buy; their banks do. Regular moisture check reports and checking of flashings and drainage will serve you well when it comes time to sell, and peace of mind whilst you’re enjoying your home.