I like reader requests for topics, so I'm happily putting off the article on hallway laundry rooms to focus on regular maintenance and replacement of things in a home. Thanks to the reader who suggested the topic.
All shingles have a rating - for example "25-year shingles." In fact, these time periods are really just a rough guide, and your roof might last longer or less than the advertised period. All one can safely say is that the longer the advertised period, the better the quality of the shingles.
At least once a year you should go up on the roof and check the condition of the shingles. Significant cracking and a large amount of shingle grains in the gutters tell you that it's time for a new roof. You should patch cracked shingles with roofing cement. While you're on the roof, check the furnace chimney for rust. Repaint as necessary. If you have let the chimney cap rust through, replace it.
The bad news is the amount of work gutters require. You can't ever let your gutters get so full of debris that they overflow, or you'll have basement or foundation water problems. I'm afraid that gutters need to be cleaned at least twice in the fall and once in the spring. You might be able to reduce the work by trimming nearby trees or using some of the gutter guards available. But if you see your gutters overflowing during a rain, it's time for action!
The old steel waste pipe in Virginia Hills houses narrows over time due to rust. Consequently, the pipe often clogs and your shower and sink drain slowly. The solution is to replace the pipes, but that's expensive. If you are willing to snake your drains about once every six months, you can probably go for decades before you are forced to replace.
It goes without saying that you should fix any hot or cold water line leak immediately.
Hot water heaters sometimes last a very long time, and sometimes seem to start leaking the minute the warranty runs out. Once the water heater starts leaking, replace it. Any sign of discharge from the pressure release valve is trouble and needs to be looked at immediately. To help your water heater last longer, you should drain it every year using the little spigot at the bottom and a hose. The recommendation is actually every six months, but I doubt many people would actually do that. Also, many water heaters have a very cheap spigot at the bottom. If you have a plumber visit for something else, having a quality spigot installed is a good idea — and the water heater will get drained as part of the installation.
There isn't much that can be done with the electrical system. Ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) receptacles should have the test button pushed once a month. The same applies to GFCI circuit breakers. Normal receptacles should be replaced when plugs slide in easily and fall out just as easily.
Check the main electrical panel every three months for signs of water getting into it by running down the inside of old electrical service cable coming in from outside. Any rust on the panel or water dripping out of it during a rain means it's time to replace.
Do you need your ducts cleaned? Duct cleaning services insist that you do, but scientific studies are much less clear. If you have major allergies and duct cleaning seems to help, you should have the ducts cleaned as often as it seems to improve things. Otherwise, I wouldn't spend money on duct cleaning. However, you must replace your furnace filter every six months!
Gas furnaces don't really need servicing every year and I have my furnace cleaned and serviced about every 2-3 years. Two cautions are in order, however. Older furnaces need frequent checking, and you should absolutely have a carbon monoxide detector installed near your furnace.
Air conditioning systems can also be serviced every 2-3 years unless you notice that the A/C isn't cooling very well. A good way to check is to put a thermometer in a duct and see if the air blowing out is 20 degrees cooler than the air outside the house. If the difference is a lot less than 20 degrees, it's time for service.
If you have an occasional fire in a fireplace, you can go for years without having your chimney inspected and swept. If you use the fireplace two or three times a week, you should have the chimney swept yearly. If you use a wood stove for heating, you may need to have the stovepipe and chimney swept two to three times during the heating season.
The chimney for the furnace is far more maintenance free, but it still should be looked at once a year. Check that the cap has not rusted through. You should also look in the attic to insure that the furnace chimney has not come apart.
While you're in the attic, look at the wood roof boards for obvious signs of water entry or rot. Check the attic insulation to make sure it hasn't moved or, in the case of blown cellulose, that the wind hasn't blown it around. Make sure the attic ventilation isn't blocked. If you have a turbine vent on the roof, make sure it still turns. Bearings on those vents wear out and the turbine freezes.
Many Virginia Hills residents have discovered that their front steps were poured over construction materials used as backfill around the house. When this fill rotted away, the steps were supported by just the connections to the house. A sure sign of this problem is the steps sinking or pulling away from the house.
The bad news is that the only real solution is to have the old steps removed (the sledge hammer method, usually) and a new set of steps poured. It's not a cheap solution, but the alternative is an unsightly and often unsafe entrance to the house.
A cracked driveway is unsightly, but can often be tolerated for a long period of time. Cracks are often the result of tree roots running under the drive, and there's no easy way to solve this problem without removing the tree, usually not a preferred solution. Cracks should be filled with a crack filler before winter to prevent water penetration and further damage. If you have an asphalt driveway, you should seal it every four to seven years. While experts disagree about whether this increases the longevity of the asphalt, it does prevent water penetration and greatly improves the appearance.
The asbestos siding used on most Virginia Hills houses has a very long life. Because it does not expand and contract with temperature changes as wood does, it will retain paint much longer. Wood trim, however, is subject to rot damage if water sits on it. Every few years you should inspect the wood up close and probe with a sharp object any area that looks soft or rotted. Wood trim should be painted every five to seven years, or more frequently if it appears to need it.
Be very careful scraping outside paint. Most Virginia Hills houses' exteriors were painted with a lead-based paint. Sanding should never be done if lead paint is present.
Sadly, trees do need maintenance. Large trees should receive trimming/thinning/crowning about every five years. If a tree grows to thick and dense, it is far more likely to be blown down by the wind. If a tree develops holes or is obviously dying, it needs to be checked and eventually removed. While removal of big trees isn't cheap, it's a lot cheaper than repairing your house after a big limb or tree has fallen on it.
Long time residents will tell you that you should water the clay soil around the foundation of your house during very dry summers. Because marine clay shrinks when it dries, during a dry summer the soil may shrink away from under the foundation and the lack of support will cause the walls to develop cracks. Watering keeps the clay at normal moisture. During a wet summer, preventing the clay from becoming saturated by covering it will prevent it from swelling and pushing in on the basement walls.
Copyright Doug Boulter, 2002
Winter will soon be upon us! In this article, I'm going to discuss some of the things you should be doing to get ready for winter. Many of these things will be familiar to you. And if you think of a few I've forgotten, let me know. I'll be winterizing too.
Let's avoid frozen pipes this year! Before the first freeze, it's a good idea to turn off the water to all outside faucets. For those of you who want to avoid this chore every winter, plumbing supply companies make a special sillcock that replaces the existing faucet. The place where the faucet actually shuts off the water is inside the house where it should be warmer. If you're handy soldering copper pipe, you can install it yourself. Otherwise you should have a plumber do it for you.
After the leaves stop falling, remember the gutters. They need to be cleaned out so winter rains and snows don't overflow over the edge. As we discussed a while ago, this is a major cause of wet basements and foundation problems. While you're at it, check if the downspouts terminate a good distance from the house and properly carry off the water. A small amount of time and effort here will save you from lots of expensive problems.
If you have a fireplace or a wood stove, you've already missed the discounts on chimney sweeping. The time to get a good price was in the spring or summer. Nevertheless, if you haven't had your chimney swept in a few years, you definitely should see about having it done. Here's a good rule of thumb. If you have more than two fires a week, or you burn pine and scrap lumber, you should have your chimney swept and inspected every year. If you burn the fireplace two or fewer times a week, once every two years should suffice. Based on what he sees, the chimney sweep should be able to tell you if this frequency of cleaning is right for you. And if you've never had your chimney swept, please get it done before that first fire of the season!!!
Another important thing to do is to have the furnace cleaned and serviced. You can do some or all of this yourself. If you're not confident of your skills, however, you should bring in a professional to do this. All furnaces differ, but here's a general idea of what needs to be looked at on a gas furnace.
First is the chimney. The chimney carries exhaust gases out of your house and a leak might allow deadly carbon monoxide gas into the house. If you have the fireplace/wood stove chimney swept, the sweep will check out the furnace chimney also. A good furnace technician can do this too. At a minimum, he should take off the bottom of the chimney, check with a flashlight for obstructions (nests, dead animals or birds, etc.) and look for excessive rust. He should also check the top of the chimney. The metal caps that were installed there often rust out and should be replaced.
Next, he should check the combustion chamber. He will be looking for cracks or holes that might let the exhaust gases mix with the air that is being heated in the plenum and circulates through your house. He should also inspect the burners for dirt or rust and clean them as necessary. When he fires up the furnace later, he should check the flames coming out of the burners. On older furnaces, these can be adjusted for the best burn (the bluer the flame, the better).
On an old furnace, he should also oil the fan motor. New furnaces have sealed bearings in the fan motor and don't need any attention. Of course, the filter(s) should be changed. You can certainly do this yourself, and it needs to be done at the beginning and the middle of the heating season.
He should also generally clean the furnace and light the pilot light if you don't have electronic ignition. He should test the operation of the thermostat, and perhaps some of the limit switches. These switches sense the temperature of the air in the plenum and won't turn on the fan until the furnace has warmed the air. If the temperature gets too high, they should also cut off the burner immediately. The performance of these switches can be tested on some furnaces.
Finally, I'm going to recommend that you buy a carbon monoxide detector. These look a lot like smoke detectors, but the best ones plug into a standard electrical receptacle rather than run on a battery. They detect carbon monoxide, a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas by-product of all combustion that will kill in high concentrations. You should put the detector in the basement near your furnace and water heater.
Copyright Doug Boulter, 1995
We can hope that we're done with snow and ice for the season, but we've had big snows as late as the last week of March in Northern Virginia. Therefore it's a good idea to be prepared. Worse than snow is ice, a problem frequently found here, especially this year, when one of two things happens. Melted snow re-freezes, or rain comes down and freezes over night.
Preventing melted snow from re-freezing is as simple as preventing the water from sitting on your walk or driveway. When you shovel, make sure you get all the snow off the concrete where it can sit. Try especially hard to get the snow off the high side, where it will run down onto lower parts when it melts. If you can't do that, go out in mid-afternoon when most of the melting has taken place and use a broom to sweep off any standing water. Damp surfaces will usually dry before the night's freeze. There isn't much you can do to prevent problems of freezing rain or rain freezing, short of having a tarp as they do for athletic fields or embedding wires in the walk or drive.
If you do get ice, it's a very good idea to put down something to make it less slippery or to melt it. Remember, ice is at its most slippery when temperatures get closer to freezing. The colder it is, the more you tend to stick to the ice. While there are many products you can buy to melt ice, most of these have some serious disadvantages. Sodium chloride (salt) will kill your lawn and plants, and may damage floors if tracked inside. It can harm concrete if used long-term. Magnesium chloride may damage masonry, but it's safer for plants, animals, and humans than other types. Calcium chloride is less harmful to vegetation than salt, but if tracked inside will damage floors as well as your shoes. These latter two chemicals tend to be expensive or only available in quantities suitable for highway departments or large commercial properties. I'm going to recommend some free or inexpensive solutions — things you probably have on hand.
First, and best in my view, are fireplace ashes. These only help melt snow in a modest way, but are known for providing excellent traction. Many people have carried a can of ashes in their car for emergency traction (but only in a metal can when you are SURE that the ashes are completely cold!). Ashes will not harm grass and plants, and will wash away in a few rains. If you're a woodworker, you'll have lots of sawdust — the before version of ashes. It won't work as well, but it will work.
Sand is also great for traction. If you go out to the street after the snow is gone, the sand that VDOT laid down will still be there to sweep up and use. You're also doing the environment a service when you sweep it up, because you're preventing it from going into the storm drains and clogging streams, creeks, and the Bay.
If you own a cat, cat litter (the non-clumping kind is better) works well for traction, although it's a bit pricey. If you're a shade tree mechanic, you probably have some oil sweep which is very much like cat litter and will work as well.
Finally, fertilizer also provides good traction. When it washes off, if you haven't applied a lot of it, it will help plants and lawns. However, too much fertilizer will "burn" plants and grass. If it gets to the street and into the storm drain system, it will provide too much nutrient for algae in the rivers and will cause that green carpet you see in the Potomac in the summer. Use fertilizer as your last of these choices.
An investment in an good outside doormat will help prevent these traction controllers from being tracked inside.
Copyright Doug Boulter, 2004