As fall ushers in bright colors and crisp air, many historic homeowners plan seasonal delights like visits to the pumpkin patch and apple-picking adventures. Along with enjoying all that autumn has to offer, ensuring your historic home is prepared for the colder months ahead is essential. For historic brick homes, fall is a critical time to tackle maintenance tasks that will help preserve your home’s structure and protect it from winter weather. Prioritizing a few key maintenance tasks can save you time, money and stress.
Inspect the Exterior and Schedule Necessary Repairs
It’s best to assess the exterior of your home before the first snowfall. Historic brick homes may develop cracks in the mortar or brick work that worsen when water seeps in and freezes during cold weather. This damage from the freeze-thaw cycle can cause the mortar to rapidly deteriorate and even lead to spalling, where pieces of brick break off.
To assess the condition of the brickwork, walk around your property to identify any areas where bricks, retaining walls, or steps are cracked or crumbling. Pay particular attention to the areas behind gardens and anywhere the brick is uneven and likely to cause tripping hazards. If you’re uncomfortable inspecting the brick yourself, a historic brick expert can help you identify problem areas and provide fresh tuckpointing to repair any damage.
Prepare Your Plumbing: Water Maintenance
Protecting your home's plumbing is a simple task. To prevent frozen pipes, turn off the water supply to exterior faucets. Make sure to drain any remaining water so the pipes don't freeze and burst. Broken pipes can cause significant damage and lead to costly repairs, so it’s essential to handle this before the temperatures drop too low. If you’re unsure where your shut-off valves are, a plumber can help locate them.
While dealing with water maintenance, remember to ensure your gutters are draining. If they are clogged with debris, they will likely create ice dams on your roof as winter progresses. Consider hiring an experienced gutter cleaning team who can perform the job quickly and safely, rather than doing it yourself.
Insulate Windows and Doors
To help combat heat loss, inspect your windows and doors for drafts, gaps and worn-out seals. You can add weatherstripping to the windows and caulk where the frame meets the wall to keep the cold air out and warm air in. If your windows are single-pane, consider adding storm windows to improve insulation without compromising the historical character of your home. You can also invest in thicker drapes or window treatments to provide extra warmth during the colder months.
Inspect the Chimney and Prepare Your Heating System
If you have a working fireplace, fall is the time to inspect and clean your chimney. Chimney maintenance is critical for safety, as soot and creosote create a fire hazard if left unchecked. Even if you don’t use your fireplace frequently, chimneys can become blocked by debris or bird nests, creating a risk of carbon monoxide build-up inside the home. A professional chimney sweep can also identify any deterioration of the chimney brick, and a historic brick expert can repair any damage.
Along with the chimney, now is an excellent time to schedule a tune-up for your furnace, boiler or heat pump. Regular maintenance can prolong the system's life and help you avoid sudden breakdowns.
Once your fall maintenance checklist is complete, you can relax and enjoy the season. Working with the right experts can give you peace of mind and free up time to enjoy all your favorite activities throughout the rest of the year.
When your list is ready and you've set a budget for the priority fall tasks, it's time it's time to arrange an expert consultation with Renaissance Development. We are experts in traditional tuckpointing methods for historic brick homes in the DC area. from winter weather. Prioritizing a few key maintenance tasks can save you time, money and stress.
