Now that the cold weather finally seems to be behind us and the sun is shining, it is a good time to take a quick walk around your house and look to see what the winter has brought you. In general it was a mild winter, with not a lot of snowfall. Where we didn’t have snow we did have times of high winds and icing conditions. Newtown saw a lot of downed trees and broken branches. Unfortunately not all the branches made it to the ground. Now that we are making our ways out of the house to enjoy the warmer weather take some time to walk around your house and look for branches that may have broken but never quite made it to the ground. In warmer months these broken branches that are hanging on by a thread will dry out and tend to fall at the next high wind. These can cause damage, be very dangerous and could be deadly. These scarred trees will also be more susceptible disease. It is a good idea to have an arborist come and prune the trees. Having these trees cleaned and sealed will increase their chance survival. Spring is also good time to see if your trees survived the winter. Look for buds and leaves. Branches that don’t have any leaves on them are dead. Removing these dead sections will leave the tree healthier. This will give it a better chance of thriving.
Did you forget to take the hoses off your faucets at the beginning of last winter? As you turn on your faucets for the spring planting season be careful. Frozen water that was trapped in the hose could have damaged the exterior faucet or worse yet have caused a leak inside your home. When turning on the faucets the first time this spring, take a quick walk inside and listen for the sound of dripping water. After your sure there are no leaking pipes in the house examine the faucets. Are they leaking? It is a good time to change all the gaskets inside the hoses. These tend to wear out over time. Here in Newtown we are mostly on well water. Owners need to be conscious when using the sprinklers and hoses. I usually advise to do 20 to 30 minutes and then give the well a chance to recoup some of that lost water. Another good idea is to get a timer for your hose. Most of the local hardware stores or a large home improvement stores will carry them. These are not that expensive and it is better than running you’re well dry.
As a home inspector, it is my job to provide information to help people make an educated and informed decision. I hope that you find these opinions useful and informative. If you have any questions or are in need of a home inspection I hope that you will call me at Pondview Inspections. (203)304-9140. Get out there and enjoy the nice weather. I hope to see you around Newtown.