By Casey Colvin, Heritage Roofing and Contracting, LLC
When the Colorado winter begins weakly whimpering its way toward us at a leisurely pace, there is no better time to consider those pesky preventative maintenance items we’ve put off to enjoy our prolonged fall Season. When looking at our community through the lens of maintaining a space shuttle it’s easy to over-inspect, over-repair and over-worry. When encountering this mindset, try to remember a little acronym we call “ARG!”
Assess Damage
Typically, the easiest way to prevent future problems is to review the current ones; walking through a community looking for debris fallen from roofs, rust around existing roof penetrations, stains from downspouts on concrete, and any landscaping that may be washing out or concrete that has heaved. These tell-tale signs are often the beginning of a larger problem and a great place to start the hunt for pre-emptive repair. Once you’ve compiled your list you can work from the top down.
Roof Maintenance
Inspect those roofs! Now I don’t mean walk around and enjoy the view, rather hire a licensed roofing contractor to inspect and document any real issues that may be present in the future. Areas to pay particular attention to are communities with flat roofs and tile roofs. While shingles can often be maintained with minor sealant touch up, a new pipe boot, or a replacement shingle, tile roofs and flat roofing membranes come with maintenance items all their own. Especially on units where mechanical equipment has been serviced; ask your contractor to inspect for tile breakage or excessive wear on flat membranes as high traffic areas will present leaks first. Also, ask your contractor to document any flat roofing membrane that is shrinking from the walls and any areas where water may be pooling in excess. If these items are not corrected quickly, costly repairs are sure to follow.
Gutter Cleaning
Get those gutters cleaned, because there is nothing worse than an overflowing gutter creating a skating rink in your community. Short of encouraging the Avalanche to enjoy your new practice rink, there is a large liability in slips, trips, and falls. Pay special attention during the cleaning as areas with larger build-up of debris are likely great candidates for a gutter guard system. By installing the gutter guard, you can eliminate a substantial amount of year after year gutter maintenance costs and keep that water where it belongs.
Don’t forget the downspouts. These lateral drains are responsible for the lions-share of gutter overflows and are too often overlooked. Pay special attention to any downspout that drains into an underground pipe. If not properly cleaned and maintained they are prone to clogging, breakage, or blockage from vegetation growth. Be sure the contractor performing this repair takes the time to find the drain outlet, otherwise prepare for the flood!
