When bad winter weather strikes the mid-Atlantic region, it can bring a variety of nasty surprises that leave your home needing repair. Ice dams, leaking siding, and drafts that find their ways indoor are all damaging results of winter weather and can be quite a mess for you to clean up. You may have home insurance that can cover you when some of these nasty winter conditions take a toll on your home. Even so, a harsh Winter can take a real toll on your home. Fortunately, the professionals at Shanco are experienced in all types of winter home repair, and we want to share a few tips for homeowners when winter weather damages their siding and gutters.

Does your home already need repairs from winter weather? If you live in the Maryland or DC areas, contact the professionals at Shanco today to get your home back in order.

Winter Home Repair for Siding

Maybe you let snow pile up against the house. Maybe the wind from winter storms has ripped your siding clean off.

Wood siding is especially susceptible to winter home damage. If there is enough snow in a snowstorm, the lamination around the siding can be removed, which leaves the wood exposed to moisture that can cause it to rot.

Extreme cold weather can also cause damage to vinyl siding. Below-freezing temperatures make vinyl siding brittle, which makes it extremely hard to repair in cold weather. If you need winter home repair on vinyl siding, you shouldn’t make an attempt to do it yourself, as special techniques are needed to keep it from breaking. When the siding breaks, you have to buy replacements since there’s no way to repair it. Call Shanco if you have any siding work to be done in winter, because it will save you money in the long run.

To help prevent winter damage to your siding, clear all snow off the sides of your home and perform routine checks after particularly bad winter weather. For more information in the differences between wood siding and vinyl siding , check out our blog.

Winter Home Repair for Gutters

Those icicles hanging from your gutters may be pretty, but they cause a lot of damage to your home. Icicles are often signs of a bigger problem for your gutters: ice dams.

​Ice dams can form when snow builds up on the edge of a roof with inadequate insulation. Heat that radiates up from the attic will melt this bottom layer of snow, which will slide down until it freezes after being exposed to the cold again. This little block of ice then prevents further meltwater to drain off the roof, trapping it in place instead. This process repeats itself until that little pool of frozen meltwater becomes a huge block of ice that can cause significant home damage not only to your gutters but to your roof as well.

If the ice dam is large enough, it will block your gutters and eventually become heavy enough to rip them right off your home. To prevent ice dams from causing winter home damage, be sure to clear snow off your roof regularly. If your gutters have already been damaged this winter by ice dams, start by opening up the channels in the ice dam. Use salt to penetrate the surface of the ice, which you can then break into chunks for removal.

Call the Winter Home Repair Experts

Safety should be your number one priority, so you should consider hiring a professional to asses and repair winter home damage. If the snow or ice has damaged your house and you need home repair this winter, contact the experts at Shanco today!