Rain, snow, storms, and hail—Minnesota sure gets more than its fair share of nasty weather year-round! Residents here have to be tough, and so do their homes, as the latter must resist storm damage on multiple fronts in order to keep the former safe.
Though homes here are built to last here, they sure do appreciate a little TLC from their owners in terms of resisting storm damage. When you care for your home, it will serve you stalwartly for years, providing a safe haven for you and your family. Neglect it, however, and you’ll pay the price in repair costs and issues that snowball more often than not.
No need to panic, though; Tony’s Lifetime Exteriors, your Sauk Rapids exterior pros, is here with everything you need to know about keeping your home’s shields going strong.
Keep Up With Your Siding
When harsh winds come a-knocking, your siding is the defense that answers. No matter if it’s seamless steel siding or a vinyl siding installation, the one job that the stuff that clads your house is, aside from looking pretty, to keep weather out and interior air in. So of course it’s important that you tend to your siding if it’s “injured” in the fray, so to speak.
Cracks Are Cause for Concern
They may not be extremely noticeable, especially if your siding is textured, but the slightest crack may just be enough to let water through. Many siding types aren’t exactly waterproof, per se; they shed the stuff using gravity and their lapped design. Water is supposed to flow over them, so if even a single slab is compromised, it’s imperative you get on it! No way will it be able to do its job in the future protecting your home from severe weather.
Storm damage repair pros can usually simply replace a board and fix this problem outright. Since homeowners insurance tends to cover quite a bit of storm damage, it’s much more sensible than trying to repair the crack yourself. DIY repairs rarely, if ever, work as well as the real thing, as siding boards are designed to be waterproof on their face.
Watch Your Roofing
It may be a little harder to check up on your roofing than your siding; you don’t exactly clamber up there every day, after all! But your roof does just as important a job as keeping your home’s occupants safe as your siding, so it deserves attention, too. What else is there to stand between your family and the snow, hail, and rain that living in Minnesota so often comes with?
Keep a Storm Damage Pro on Speed Dial
Any number of things can go wrong with your roof, from hail dents to curling shingles. Check our our roofing contractor blog, “What Qualifies as a Roofing Emergency?” to learn more about a few common hazards your home might face. If you need an abbreviated list:
- Missing shingles
- Missing granules (on an asphalt roof)
- Cracked shingles
- Soggy insulation
At the end of the day, though, it’s most important that you simply phone a storm restoration services pro either ASAP or at your earliest convenience, depending on the severity of the problem. Because roofing is so complex and made up of so many structurally integral parts, only a professional eye can discern the true nature of an issue. Plus, walking on one’s roof without the proper safety equipment is downright dangerous!
Give Thought to Your Gutters
Seamless gutters are one of the most efficient storm damage control options you have at your disposal. They redirect water that would otherwise seep into the soil around your foundation and thus put excess strain on it. Moreover, they stop that water from leaking into your basement—a common and much-dreaded occurrence in our meltwater-heavy springs!
We’ve written quite a bit about gutter installation on our blog; check out, for example, “Why Buy Seamless Gutters?”. While we won’t do a deep dive on the topic here, know this: if you haven’t upgraded to seamless gutters yet, you’re leaving your home vulnerable to storm damage.
Their traditional counterparts have more seams and thus more opportunities to both break and clog. You thus run the risk of exposing both your siding to stains from the overflow and your foundation to the stress of ever-shifting soil. Sleek and seamless gutters, though, are long tubes that
Tony’s Lifetime Exteriors: Storm Damage and Exterior Renovation Pros
No matter if you just need a little post-storm touch-up or you’re ready for an exterior-wide change, our team of contractors is ready to help. With our decades of expertise and our commitment to unrivaled quality, we’re the obvious choice for all your home’s needs. Give our Sauk Rapids office a call today at 320-252-9086.