Gutters play a significant role in your home’s protection against water damage. They deliver precipitation that lands on your roof to the downspouts, where it is channeled a safe distance away from your property. With the help of an experienced gutter contractor, you can ensure your gutters remain efficient and in good shape all winter long. Once your gutter system has been compromised, you may face problems with your roof, gutters, siding, windows, basement, foundation and landscaping. 

If you know that your gutters are in good condition, you won’t have to worry about them as much in the winter. Keep reading to discover better ways to spend the colder months than worrying about gutter damage. 

Fun Activities to Try This Winter

Snowboarding

Even younger individuals can participate in snowboarding. Teens and tweens have the strength and capability to stay upright and attempt more tricks, making the activity popular among those age groups. Before you and your kids get on the board, make sure to wear proper safety gear like helmets, knee pads, hip pads and wrist guards. 

Skiing

One more fun activity you can enjoy in the snow is skiing, a family favorite during the colder months. Sometimes, you’ll see children as young as two doing this activity. However, the ideal age to start skiing is around five, when their coordination skills are better and they are not as scared of falling. Always be sure to supervise your child when skiing. You can improve their skiing abilities by enrolling them in ski lessons. Like snowboarding, wearing safety gear is essential to this activity. 

Ice Skating

While ice skating is quite tricky at first, you will find it fun once you get the hang of it. You can teach your kids how to skate when they reach the age of four or five or enroll them in lessons. Children usually wear figure skates or hockey skates when starting. When they get better at it, they can try different sports like ice dancing, figure skating, speed skating or hockey. It’s a good idea to have newbies wear a helmet and give them a hand to help with their balance. 

Making Snow Angels

All you need to make snow angels are a bed of snow and a snowsuit. Your kids will surely love to create angelic figures in fluffy snow. To make this activity more fun, bring creative materials for decorating your snow angels. For instance, you can use food coloring to create a face or even dress them up with some clothes. If you want, you can also make it a contest of who creates the most beautiful angel. 

Build a Snowman

One more way to encourage your kids to get creative is to build a snowman. People of all ages find this activity fun and exciting. Snowmen are common sights during the holiday season. Building one doesn’t have to cost you anything. Simply pile up large snowballs to create the body and head and use items around your home to make the face, like old clothes, pots, fruits, and vegetables. 

Create an Igloo

When you know that your gutters and the rest of your home are ready for the colder months, you worry less and are free to focus more on doing things that you and your family can enjoy like building an igloo. You can ease your worries even more with an efficient gutter protection system. It will keep debris from entering your gutters, ensuring rain and melted snow drain efficiently from your roof and away from your home. Building an igloo or snow fort is a wonderful activity for older children to try. They can use a shovel to gather snow or simply their hands to construct their very own fortress.

Snowball Fight

Once you’ve built your fortresses, it’s now time to start a snowball fight! This is a game that everyone in the family can participate in and enjoy. You can avoid injuries by making sure the snow is not too icy. On extremely cold days, it can be hard to create snowballs. You can lie down on the snow for a few moments to heat it so it’s easier to form into balls. 

Cozy Up With Some Hot Chocolate

Drinking hot chocolate is one of the coziest and tastiest winter activities. You can enjoy your sweet treat while bundled up on your couch in front of a fire. Turn on some holiday films with your friends or loved ones as you indulge in your warm cup of goodness. If you haven’t had the time to watch that television series everyone is talking about, now would be the ideal time to do it. 

Read a Good Book by the Fire

Reading is even more fun and relaxing when done in front of the fireplace. You can go traditional by grabbing a paperback copy or go digital with an e-book. Either way, reading is always a great way to spend your free time. It exercises your brain, increases your vocabulary, helps with depression and even encourages better sleep. 

Go Indoor Camping

Just because it’s cold outside doesn’t mean that you can’t go camping with your family. Wouldn’t it be fun for everyone to build tents in the living room with blankets and pillows? Grab some snacks, plan some exciting games or even watch classic family movies. 

Easy Ways to Keep Your Gutters in Good Shape This Winter

Keep Gutters Clean

Try not to let debris clog your gutters. Dried leaves, branches, seeds and other debris can clog your gutters. They can also encourage standing water that can attract small animals, insects and other pests. Keeping your gutters clean means protecting your home from water damage and also the health of your household. To save yourself from constant gutter maintenance, consider investing in high-quality gutter covers. 

Address Gutter Issues Immediately

As with any part of your home, prompt action towards damage can help with the longevity and efficiency of your gutter system. If your gutters have issues, make sure to deal with them immediately. Keep in mind that delaying repairs will only make the problem worse and result in water damage, which can compromise the structural integrity of your home. 

Schedule Gutter Maintenance in Advance

Since gutters are essential in preventing water-related issues in various parts of your home, you must ensure it stays in mint condition. One of the most effective ways to keep your gutter efficient is to schedule routine maintenance. Booking gutter maintenance services in advance will help you detect and address issues before they turn into costly repairs.  

Get an Inspection After an Extreme Weather Event

Make it a habit to have your roof and gutters checked after extreme weather. Heavy rains, snow and high winds can also damage your gutters. If you have clogged gutters, they can hold water that can freeze in winter. This can cause gutters to go through cycles of expansion and contraction, which can harm their structure. High winds during the colder months can also loosen gutter components, which can be dangerous not only for your home but also to its occupants. 

Before you say goodbye to the hot summer days and embrace the cooler weather of fall, make sure your home is also ready for the change of seasons. This means doing a bunch of home maintenance tasks, which are not quite as exciting for many people. But as long as you start early and gradually, preparing your home could be less stressful and exhausting for you. Of course, don’t forget to get the help of contractors for bigger tasks so that you can lighten your load and ensure each job will be done properly.

In this post, gutter installation expert Barry Best Seamless Gutters lists some essential home maintenance tasks that you should get done before fall finally comes in full swing.

Landscaping

Continue tending to your yard or garden. Prune your landscaping to encourage plants, flowers and trees to grow healthier and thicker. Just make sure to prune properly to avoid disfiguring or harming your plants and trees.

For most plants, pruning can be done by removing up to one-third of the total stems after the first year of growth. Then, you can prune any older stems over the next two years to help the plant grow new and healthy stems.

For trees, some of the common areas that should be pruned include:

• damaged, diseased or dead limbs
• sagging limbs
• small branches growing from the base of the roots or trunk
• branches that interfere with each other

When done successfully, trimming your trees can help keep pests away and improve your home’s curb appeal. However, take note that tree pruning is best left to arborists or tree trimming professionals since the task requires climbing up a ladder and handling tools.

Lastly, make sure not to skip fertilizing your lawn. To ensure that your lawn will look great in the spring and summer, you should prep them for the fall and winter. Keep in mind that roots remain active when the grass isn’t growing. And by applying fertilizer now, you can prevent winter damage and encourage faster growth in the spring.

Plumbing

Make sure your plumbing connections are in good shape. Call your trusted plumber and have your plumbing system inspected, particularly your water and drain lines. Proper maintenance is the best way to prevent water damage and to prepare your plumbing system for the colder weather.

Drain Your Outdoor Faucets

Don’t forget to turn off all your outdoor faucets before winter. Furthermore, make sure all your garden hoses are drained and disconnected from outside spigots. Failure to do this could cause water to freeze and your pipes to potentially burst.

Check Your Washing Machine Connections

Check your washing machine connections too. Remember that your washer has hot and cold water lines running to it. If you have an older unit, look for black rubber hoses. But if you have a newer model, it’s likely using braided steel lines. Check these for any signs of water leakage, such as bulging hoses, pooling water or discoloration on the drywall.

Gutters

Inspect your gutters for damage. Look out for leaks, loose screws, uneven sections, and any signs of wear and tear. Make sure your gutters aren’t sagging or pulling away from your home. If any of these problems are present in your gutter system, call a gutter professional and have them assess the condition of your gutters. They could recommend fixing or replacing your gutters and downspouts. In case of gutter replacement, you might want to consider seamless gutters since these tend to be less susceptible to leaks than seamed gutters.

Clean Your Gutters

Your gutters drain a huge amount of rainwater from your roof every year. That’s why you should take time to check for dirt and debris buildup inside your gutters. Clean your gutter system regularly to avoid clogging. Otherwise, you might have to deal with a flooded interior or a damaged roof or exterior.

Install Gutter Guards

Consider adding gutter guards to keep leaves, debris and other small objects out of your gutter system. Don’t worry because these covers are designed to prevent debris from getting in your gutters while allowing water to enter and exit easily. By installing gutter guards, you can reduce the amount of debris that falls in your gutters and minimize or eliminate the risk of clogging.

HVAC

Autumn will surely bring cooler temperatures. And with winter, you can expect the weather to be colder. Make sure your interior will remain comfortable during these months by having your heating system tuned up and improving your ventilation. Clean vents and change filters to improve the efficiency of your HVAC system and ensure good indoor air quality.

Ventilation

Check your bathroom and range hood ventilation as well. Ensure your exhaust fans are working properly and they are able to effectively remove excess moisture and heat from your home. Inspect your vents — make sure they aren’t blocked with debris and the fans have no signs of wear. When it comes to your HVAC system, it’s best to hire an HVAC professional. Exhaust vents, for instance, can exit through your roofline or wall, so they might not be easy to find and clean.

HVAC Units

Clean your outdoor HVAC units and cover areas where leaves and other debris could possibly enter. When dirt gets inside your outdoor unit, this would likely affect its performance and efficiency.

And although your heating will take up much of the work during fall and winter, now is still a good time to do some air conditioner maintenance. Your air conditioner has run all summer long and condensed a good amount of moisture in the air. This moisture typically runs safely through the drain lines. But for various reasons, these could become clogged or damaged. Watch out for water pooling near your foundation or in your basement as this could mean a problem in your drain lines. To check if the water is moving through the drain line while the air conditioner is working, you should be able to see some moisture draining. There shouldn’t be a significant amount of water.

Windows

Check your windows for drafts and make sure your interior is not losing heat. Heat loss through windows accounts for 25-30% of heating energy use. To avoid this problem and to help keep your heating costs down, you can update your weatherstripping.

Exterior 

Give your exterior some TLC. Look out for damage in your siding and make sure your roof is in tip-top shape. Pay attention to your driveway as well. If you notice any cracks, have them fixed right away. When water gets into these cracks, it will freeze and expand, making the cracks even bigger. Small cracks can become large cracks that could possibly cause the concrete to crumble over time.

Get a Free Quote Today!

Barry Best Seamless Gutters provides high-quality gutter systems, including heated gutter systems, for residential buildings and commercial facilities. We also offer a range of awnings and retractable screens to suit various applications. Our team is composed of fully trained and professional individuals who can guarantee top-notch workmanship and exceptional customer service. Call us at (315) 697-5000 or fill out our contact form to request a free estimate. We serve customers in Canastota and Syracuse, NY, as well as other surrounding areas.