What Should You Expect During An External Home Inspection?

As winter draws near, you may have considered having your home inspected thoroughly to ensure that it is foolproof and that the season will not find you unprepared. This will go a long way in keeping you and your loved ones safe and sound. Home inspections can be categorized differently and usually cover the exterior and interior of your home. This post explains some of the inspections you should expect with an external check of your home. [caption id="attachment_7529" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Image Courtesy of Wikimedia[/caption] The first area of concern is checking for water stains on your siding. Water stains are basically a symptom of water leaks. This therefore requires your immediate attention. The following post explains this in detail:

Water will always take the path of least resistance. This is why siding and roof shingles are lapped from bottom to top, so water will run down the building without coming in. This also explains why a water stain on a ceiling doesn’t necessarily mean the roof is leaking directly above it. It simply means the water worked its way in somewhere above the stain, and then ran down inside the wall until it found the lowest spot in the ceiling joists, sometimes almost horizontally. So, when I’m looking for a leak, these are some of the main culprits... Read more at Kalman Construction…

The post above describes how you can identify the causes of water leaks. This allows you to sort out the problem early enough. Water leaks are the kind of problem that can be described as ‘killing softly’ since they seem very harmless up front. You should take action quickly before it’s too late. [caption id="attachment_7528" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Image Courtesy of Wikimedia[/caption] The other thing that should be taken into consideration when having your home inspected externally is dry rot. This is an often unnoticeable problem which can have disastrous effects on your home. While the term makes it sound like the condition thrives in dryness, it actually requires some moisture to form. The following post describes this in detail:

Dry rot is term given to brown rot decay caused by certain fungi that deteriorate timber in buildings and other wooden construction seemingly without an apparent source of moisture. The decayed wood takes on a dark or browner crumbly appearance, with cubical like cracking or checking, that becomes brittle and can eventually crush the wood into powder. Chemically, wood attacked by dry rot fungi is decayed by the same process as other brown rot fungi. An outbreak of dry rot within a building can be perceived to be an extremely serious infestation that is hard to eradicate, requiring drastic remedies to correct. Eventually the decay can cause instability and collapse in structures. Read more at Comfy Cozy Crawl Space…

A dry rot diagnosis is a report you don’t want to hear from your roofing specialist, as the post above describes. However, it’s much better to find out early as it will save you more trouble if it progresses beyond the redeemable stage. Another important constituent of an external evaluation is checking for hail damage. The effects of hail could be unnoticeable, but astonishingly, hail damage accounts for more than 1.6 billion dollars per year in roof damage in the United States. Fortunately, it can be identified, as described in the post below:

Check out the gutters and downspouts around your house. If you see unusually large amounts of mineral deposits, this might be a sign of shingle surface wear that is typical of hail damage. This applies only to asphalt or composition shingles, which have a granular mineral topcoating. Examine your gutters. If your metal gutters display dents or dings from the hail, there is a good chance that your shingles were damaged as well. Read more at Lesson.Website…

[caption id="attachment_7527" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Image Courtesy of Flickr[/caption] To get a comprehensive external evaluation, you will need to hire roofing professionals that can see any problems with your home’s exterior and advice you accordingly. If you are looking for professional roofing contractors to perform a complete external inspection and the required roof repairs in Purcellville VA, don’t hesitate to call us today! Featured Image: Image Credit

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