When Cold Weather Has Damaged Your Home, Here's What You Can Do

 Whether or not your home is built for cold temperatures, rain and snow, or the kind of hail that never makes you want to step outside again, it can be damaged by these conditions over time. 

And when that damage strikes, you’re going to know about it! Your home will be colder, you’ll start seeing damp spots, and you might feel like your heating is doing nothing to keep you from shivering. 

When these symptoms start to crop up over your home, you could be dealing with some structural damage you need to see to before it gets any worse. So let’s go through your next steps; when cold weather has damaged your home, here’s what you can do.

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Figure Out How the Damage Happened

Figuring out the cause comes first. After all, you need to know why the damage occurred, even if it’s a bit of a tricky question to answer. How did that moisture get into your ceiling? Where did that mold growth come from? 

Start at the signs you’re seeing and work your way back. For the ceilings and tops of walls, it’s likely that the top of your home is to blame. For the floor and lower walls, areas like your doors, windows, and foundation could be the culprit. 

Hire an Expert

When the weather has damaged your home, there’s likely to be more of a fault than you think. And because of that, you don’t want to attempt any DIY fixes to try and make your home weather-proof again. 

You’re going to need to hire an expert here, whether you need window repair, roof repair, or porch and/or concrete repair. If the cold has made these materials brittle or frozen, or has led to water damage getting inside the house, you’ll need a professional pair of hands to get the damage out again. 

Prepare for Next Year

Once you know your home has a bit of an issue with cold weather, you can make sure the damage doesn’t happen again. And trust us, even when your home has been fixed up and made good as new, there’s a chance it’ll always have that weak area!

As such, once you’ve gotten both the cause of the issue and the fix all dealt with, think about how you can prepare for the winter temperatures next year. 

For one, you now know the signs you need to be on the lookout for, which is something. But you should also research the best ways to support your structure, such as helping it to stay warm and dry so freezing temperatures have nothing to act on in the first place.

When the cold weather damages your home, act fast, isolate the issue, and call in a professional. You never know how far back the damage really stretches, and you need to be sure it won’t happen again! And once you’ve had your repair completed, try to make sure the damage doesn’t happen again next year.