Expert: Its Time To See What Kind Of Damage Winter Did To Your Home

Be On The Lookout For Leaks, Rot, Discoloration And Make Sure To Check Roof March 28, 2014 6:11 PM

From our newsroom to your inbox weekday mornings at 9AM.

WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J. (CBSNewYork) If youre doing a little spring cleaning this weekend, you may discover that this past winter was very hard on your home.

So what are the signs of winter distress and what can be done about them? CBS 2s Sonia Rincon got answers on Friday.

Rincon saw one house in Woodcliff Lake that appeared to be in perfect shape, but in reality was suffering after taking a brutal beating. The conditions this past winter were some of the harshest for a house, home inspector Henry Scheyer said.

Scheyer used a thermal imaging camera to check for cold spots. Those can result in moisture and moisture means damage. He said the winter snow and ice on the home that refused to melt for weeks trapped all that the moisture in.

The back of this house was frozen. There was ice flowing down the sides of the house. The icicles were 5, 6 feet long. It was a bad winter, Scheyer said.

One obvious warning sign was a leak in the kitchen ceiling.

Water is the worst enemy of a house. You can see now hes got problems because there was ice up here. Ice develops in the gutter. Water freezes and then goes back underneath and then just rots that wood out, Scheyer said.

The source of the leak in the kitchen was water actually getting under the shingles because they were buried under snow, Scheyer said. And the warmth from the house was creating pockets of water, which were ponding with nowhere else to go, which means cleaning your gutters regularly cant be emphasized enough.

Go here to see the original:
Expert: Its Time To See What Kind Of Damage Winter Did To Your Home