Your House Isn’t Waterproof — It’s Built to Manage Water
Looking back at this spring and summer, it sure feels like we’ve had a lot of rain around Cincinnati. One of my guys told me yesterday that we actually had more rain last summer than we did this year. I don’t know — maybe he’s right. But it certainly feels like some of the storms we’ve had this year have been bigger and heavier.
It got me thinking about something we see all the time in the remodeling business.
A surprising number of the repair calls we receive around people’s homes can eventually be traced back to water that wasn’t managed properly.
Sometimes it comes from a major storm, but more often it comes from normal wear, tear and neglect.
Water is tricky.
When we see water someplace it isn’t supposed to be, we usually know immediately that something isn’t right. The problem is that there are also plenty of places around a house where water can get in and you may never see it until damage has already occurred.
And when we do notice a little water, it’s easy to think:
That’s not good. I need to take care of that sometime.
Then it dries up. We clean it up. Life gets busy and we forget about it.
Until it happens again.
And again.
Eventually, something starts to ripple in the wall. Paint begins cracking or peeling. Flooring that was once firmly attached starts bubbling or lifting. A cabinet bottom gets soft. Trim begins to rot. Sometimes mold appears.
By the time we get the call, water may have been getting into that area for months or even years.
The frustrating part is that the original problem is often fairly simple and inexpensive to fix. It becomes expensive when the water is allowed to continue doing damage.
Here are four simple things I recommend checking around your home.
1. Watch Your Gutters During a Rainstorm
The next time we get a good rain, take a few minutes and walk around your house.
Are the gutters overflowing?
Is water coming over the front or running behind the gutter?
Are the downspouts actually carrying water away from the house?
If everything seems to be handling the water properly, you’re probably in pretty good shape. But you’d be surprised how many people live in a house for years without ever watching what their gutters are doing during a heavy rain.
2. Check the Grade and Landscaping Around Your Foundation
Make sure landscaping, mulch and flower beds haven’t gradually gotten too high against the house.
I recently looked at a situation where a flower bed had been built up higher than a concrete slab. During heavy rain, water was able to move through the landscaping, underneath the wall and eventually underneath the flooring.
By the time the problem became obvious, both the wall and flooring had been damaged.
Your landscaping should help move water away from the house, not give it a path inside.
3. Look Under Your Sinks
Take a flashlight and actually look underneath every sink in the house — kitchen, bathrooms, laundry and utility sinks.
Check the valves, supply lines, drains and P-traps for drips or moisture.
These are extremely common areas for small leaks.
Under kitchen sinks, we tend to store trash cans and cleaning supplies. Things get pushed around and can bump a P-trap, supply line or shutoff valve. Bathroom vanities aren’t much different.
A tiny drip may not seem serious, but given enough time it can rot the bottom of a cabinet. And the water doesn’t necessarily stop there. It can eventually reach the subfloor, floor joists and, in an upstairs bathroom, even the ceiling below.
4. Inspect Windowsills and Exterior Trim
Take a close look at the caulk and paint around your windows, doors and exterior trim.
Caulk eventually cracks. Paint deteriorates. Joints open up.
Once those protective surfaces fail, water can begin getting into the wood.
What could have been a little caulk and paint maintenance can eventually become a much larger repair involving rotten trim, windowsills, framing or even removal of the window itself.
Water Mitigation, Not Waterproof
The important thing to remember is that your house isn’t waterproof.
It’s a system designed to manage water — the roof sheds it, gutters collect it, downspouts move it away, siding and flashing redirect it, caulk and paint protect vulnerable joints, and the grading around your home carries water away from the foundation.
But all of those systems require maintenance.
Keep an eye on your home throughout the year, but pay particular attention when it’s raining or snowing. Those are actually some of the best times to walk around the house and see how well it’s managing water.
A small leak caught today may take an hour and a tube of caulk to correct.
That same leak ignored for several years can turn into thousands of dollars in repairs.
Your home is built to keep the elements out. It isn’t waterproof. The best protection is simply paying attention to where the water goes.
All the best,
Birch Bishop
Mariemont Remodeling Co.
