Melting Snow Reveals Winter’s Damage
Melting snow reveals winter’s damage in many ways around your home and business. As the snow begins to melt, be sure to inspect your buildings for damage and performance issues. Repairing relatively minor issues today can prevent those issues from becoming larger, more costly problems tomorrow.
Snow often causes water to work its way into the areas mentioned below (in our Springtime Inspection Checklist) and the subsequent Freeze-Thaw cycle damages various components. During these cycles, the temperature drops, and then the water freezes and expands. Ice takes up approximately 10% more space than water. When the weather warms up, the frozen water thaws again. The melting snow often leaves cracks in your building structure. After a time, these cracks can lead to water entering the building.
Also, during the winter, snow removal equipment tends to hit the lower portion of your building’s wall causing damage to the wall panel and base trim. Be sure to check these areas for damage.
Melting snow can infiltrate your buildings and cause damage.
Springtime Inspection Checklist
To maintain peak performance of your Butler Building, it is best to inspect the following areas that are most susceptible to weathering:
- Gutter and Downspouts
- Roof penetrations such as roof curbs and skylights
- Roof-to-wall transitions
- Accessory Flashings such as those above windows and door openings
- Wall Panel and Base Panel trim
Preventing Winter Damage
In preparation for next winter’s weather, consider:
- Add additional replacement gutter hangers to prevent gutter pullout and collapse from high snow loading.
- Consider adding a snow retention system to protect people and equipment from dangerous snow and ice avalanches.
- Talk with a Butler certified professional to determine the needed parts and methods you need to bring your Butler building back to optimum performance.
- Contact ButlerPartsOnline.com to get genuine Butler brand replacement parts for the wall and roof systems for your building.