Well, it’s fall, and you know what that means:it’s time to start weatherizing your home to keep your family warm through the chilly winter days.  Even if the winter weather is classified as mild here in central Alabama, we all know it can get quite frigid. 

One way we can keep ourselves warm is to winterize our houses.  Not only does winterizing our homes keep us warm, but it also saves us money! Research shows that homeowners who weatherize their homes save up to 14% on utility bills, which translates into a sizable chunk of cash considering how high utility bills are getting these days.

OK, so let’s get on with our home winterizing checklist:

Caulk it.  Go around to all of your door frames and windows and make sure you’ve got good weatherproof seals.  Most heat loss in homes comes from tiny cracks between doorjambs and window sills.  Believe me, even if you can’t see the crack, you’ll definitely feel it later in the form of leeching cold. 

Use high quality silicone caulk.  Silicone caulk is the only caulk that is weatherproof, shrinkproof and waterproof. Silicone caulk goes on smoothly and resists yellowing and cracking.   It costs a bit more, but the investment pays off in the end.

Be sure to caulk both inside and outside – go all around window and door frames, applying a nice smooth line that will protect you from the elements.

And since you’re going to be spending the day around the house, it is a perfect time to inspect your house for other wintertime hazards.

Look for loose or missing roof tiles. No sense trying to keep the cold out if you’re going to let the rain in.

Visually inspect your fascia and soffits.  Make sure there is no visible sign of rot on the wood and be especially watchful for gnaw holes or missing chunks of wood where wintering squirrels can’t get into your house.  Squirrels are a nuisance, to say the least.  And they’re impossible to get rid of once they’re inside of your walls….gnawing away at your electrical wiring. 

Speaking of squirrels, wintertime is also rodent time.  It’s cold out there and the food sources have dried up.  Rats and field mice are going to be looking for a warm place to curl up with plenty of food nearby. 

While you’re out caulking your windows and doors, and inspecting your fascia and soffits, do yourself a huge favor and inspect the foundation of your home too. Look for gaps between the base of the house and the top of the foundation where rodents might get in. 

Take care of your house and it will take care of you. For more information on weatherizing your home, you should inspect annually to assure that your house is bundled up tight.

Related articles:  Replacing and repairing rotten fascia and soffit.

It’s a given that all houses need maintenance.  Maintenance is what keeps a house healthy and beautiful for years to come.  When homeowners encounter little problems in their house, like the beginning of rotted out wood on their fascia boards or soffit eaves it’s a small problem at first, but if it’s ignored it can lead to much bigger problems, so the best bet for homeowners is to address the problem right away before the repair job grows huge and costly.

Understandably enough, when we get called out to repair damaged fascia wood and soffits, many of the jobs are on older homes who’ve been exposed to the elements for decades, if not a century or more.  What is really surprising however is the number of calls we’re getting from owners of newer homes.

What we’re seeing is that some home builders are attempting to cut corners and costs on materials and putting white pine lumber (which is best suited for interior construction) on the exterior of houses instead of using the more expensive yellow (exterior) lumber.

A new homebuyer reasonably expects their house to remain intact for about 20 years, but with this new cost-cutting efforts by the home builders, we’re seeing fascia and soffit begin to rot in as little as five years or less – this is a huge problem for homeowners because they simply aren’t expecting their houses to being to fall apart so quickly and so they understandably neglect to address the problem in a timely manner which as we know leads to increasing problems down the road, along with significantly bigger repair bills.

In addition to aesthetic design function, fascia board also protects the roof, the roof beams and the walls from weather damage and insect and rodent infestation in the attic, and in Alabama you know we get a lot of rain and bugs and squirrels!

Since fascia board is particularly susceptible to water damage, now is as good a time as any to do a visual inspection of your fascia boards and soffits (eaves) to assure yourself that they’re intact.   Look for swelling, splintering, splitting or rotting wood.   If you’re unable to conduct an inspection for whatever reason or are unsure that what you are seeing is indeed water damage, don’t hesitate to call a professional to come out and take a look at your home.

Remember, addressing this problem BEFORE the problem spreads to the roof, the roof beams and the walls will save you a HUGE CHUNK of money and a lot of headaches in the long run.