melloInsurance

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ice damming

Spring Cleaning & Maintenance

Now that the snow and ice has almost all melted, it is important to take a look around our home to see if there are any repairs, updates or any cleaning required. We have more time than we have ever had at home, so we should be checking off these items before we start to get busy again. 

  • Landscaping: Cut and trim all vegetation and overgrown bushes from structures. Power raking and aerating your lawn is also a good idea if it hasn’t been done in a while.
  • Deck and Porches: Check your deck, patios, porches, stairs, and railings for any loose members and for any deterioration. Wood decks and fences need to be treated every 4-6 years, depending on how much exposure they get to sun and rain.
  • Sprinklers: Check your lawn sprinkler system for leaky valves, exposed lines, and improperly working sprinkler heads. If there is an area of your yard that collects too much water or doesn’t get enough, run the sprinklers to figure out the problem. If it’s not something you can fix yourself, call a professional before your lawn needs the water.
  • Gutters and downspouts: Pull out any leaves and debris from your gutters and downspouts. Re-attach gutters that have pulled away from the house. Run a hose on the roof and check for proper drainage. If a leak exists, dry the area and use caulking or epoxy to seal the leak.
  • Roof: Inspect roof surface, flashing, eaves, and soffits. Perform a thorough cleaning. Check flashings around all surface projections and sidewalls. Check for any loose shingles that may have been damaged from our Saskatchewan winds.
  • Foundation: Check the foundation walls, floors, concrete, and masonry for cracking, heaving, or any deterioration. If you can slide a nickel into a crack in your concrete floor, slab or foundation call a foundation repair professional near you immediately.
  • Siding: Clean siding with a pressure washer to keep mold from growing. Check all wood surfaces for weathering and paint failure. If wood is showing through, sand the immediate area and apply a primer coat before painting. If paint is peeling, scrape loose paint and sand smooth before painting.
  • Exterior caulking: Inspect caulking and replace if deteriorating. Scrape out all of the eroding caulk and recaulk needed area.
  • Window sills, door sills, and thresholds: Fill cracks, caulk edges, repaint or replace if necessary.
  • Window and door screens: Clean screening and check for holes. If holes are bigger than a quarter, that is plenty of room for bugs to climb in. Patch holes or replace the screen. Save the bad screen to patch holes next year.

If you notice significant damage to your home during the inspection. Please contact your insurance broker to file a claim. You have 1-2 years to claim any damage to your home if the damage is covered under your home insurance policy.

As we wind down our summer activities, this is what you need to know for fall!

It is September 26th, 2017. The days are officially getting shorter. That is sad, but on the plus side…..yes there is a plus side! We can start binging Netflix without feeling like we’re wasting the day! Okay, I tried….that was a stretch at best; this summer was far too short as always.

On that note, we have fall work ahead of us all and we will shed some light on some things you’ll likely need to get done for the winter and some insurance advice for you to make sure you are looked after.

Some fall projects to take care of:

  1. Blowing out your sprinklers – if you fail to blow out your lines, they will likely freeze and cause cracking or damage to the lines which will result in leaking the following year; which could be difficult to find underground.  
  2. Winterize your boat & camper – both of these items have water in them or likely did; if they aren’t stored in a heated shop, you will need to make sure they do not have any water left in them to freeze. Again this will cause problems come next spring if not handled correctly.
  3. Look into getting some winter tires for your vehicle to help you with the icy road conditions ahead of us. No tires can stop reckless driving, so be safe out there.  
  4. Roof Repair – during the winter it’s hard to get on your roof and hard for the shingles to stick down properly. Make sure the roof is in good shape and tarred down, so that if there is a bizarre amount of snow or an ice dam, you know your roof is up for the challenge.
  5. A furnace inspection – this is never a bad thing to do just for a maintenance check. We have some pretty harsh winters and the last thing you want, is to be without heat. Have someone take a look at your unit to make sure it’s up for the task this winter.

Now that those fall projects are taken of, there are some helpful insurance tips, we would like to mention. We want you to be as prepared as possible for this upcoming winter so you can make the most of it. Whether it’s eating pumpkin pie & turkey, jumping in a pile of leaves, or enjoying a warmer climate down south; we want you to have an amazing fall..

  1. When you store your RV / Camper trailer, make sure you put a package policy on it. This package policy will insure the trailer for the storage duration; while you aren’t using the trailer. It is a more reasonable price than keeping it licensed and will have some additional coverages you may need; such as vermin or potential freezing damage.
  2. Get your snowmobile licensed and put a package policy put on it. A plate on a snowmobile gives you liability only, so you need a package policy to have coverage on the unit. Theft of these machines is happening more and more, so it’s important to have coverage on it. If you plan on operating the unit on crown land, you must have the unit registered. Crown land includes: Lakes, rivers, ditches, parks, trails, etc. If you ride on those areas, you must have it licensed to be legal and to have your insurance policy apply.
  3. If you plan on going on a warm holiday this winter, plan ahead and have someone check on your house daily. This is required by your insurance carrier, as they need someone to be checking on your heating system to make sure there isn’t a possibility of the water pipes freezing. You can also blow out your lines or some companies allow that you have a third party monitoring system installed that monitors the temperature in the house.
  4. Ice Damming on low sloped roofs has become quite the problem. With the snow, then the temperature bouncing around from mild to cold. The snow melts and creates ice dams in valleys and along the edge of the roof. This can cause water to crawl up the shingles and penetrate the roof causing water damage in your roof / ceiling / gyproc. Please try and remove any excess snow on the roof and keep an eye out for any ice building up on the edge of your house.

We want you to be as prepared as possible for this upcoming winter so you can make the most of it. Whether it’s eating pumpkin pie & turkey, jumping in a pile of leaves, or enjoying a warmer climate down south; we want you to have an amazing fall.