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Come on, Spring

Updated on May 13th, 2008 @ 3:58pm
Source: The Santa Fe New Mexican

Come on, Spring After snows of winter, get out and get your house ready for summer

Spring is here. You survived.

But whether your house and yard survived the winter's frequent snows remains to be seen.

With snow comes leaky roofs, broken tree limbs and soggy stucco - - and this year's bitter cold froze pipes, cracked walks and damaged plants.

But rejoice: The warm winds of spring surely will dry you out, not to mention offer you breathing space to get ready for next winter.

"The best time to get this done is during our dry season, May and June," said Sean Lopez, manager of Mike Lopez Roofing in Santa Fe. "Call right now and have a professional come out and check you out."

His roofing company is not alone in being busy. However, Lopez said, most roofing companies have time to come do quick inspections - - and won't even charge for it.

Santa Fe's snowy winters have been causing problems, whether in small leaks to sheet-rock ceilings that collapse.

"Usually little leaks can be fixed," he said. "But it's really important to call a professional."

It's especially important, Lopez said, to look closely at the parapets on a flat roof -- a single crack can cause huge damage.

Additionally, a flat roof needs maintenance about every two or three years, while contractors recommend maintenance on a peaked roof every five years.

"Check out the parapets, the canales," he said. "Check out any cracks, anywhere. Any crack you have, repair it -- because next year, it could be a leak."

He also recommends paying careful attention to chimneys, ducts, vents or skylights -- anything that protrudes from the roof.

"Stuff like that is very vulnerable in a roof. It should be resealed regularly," he said.

Roofs aren't the only victims of cold and snow. It's important for homeowners to stay on top of their stucco cracks as well.

Lopez also recommends calling a stucco specialist to come look around parapets and seal any stucco cracks. Cracks in certain parts of flat roofs, in particular, can cause damage to the interior of walls.

"We see water damage in both frame and adobe houses," said Gerald Boyd, a general contractor in Santa Fe who specializes in stucco.

Boyd says about 80 percent of homes he stuccos these days are done with a new synthetic stucco that can't be penetrated by moisture. That makes such walls safer during wet seasons so long as the walls are well-vented.

But old cement stuccos crack with the freeze-and-thaw cycle in late winter, and such cracks can easily lead to serious leaks and damage.

"If you do have cracks, we recommend sealing it with the synthetic sealant," Boyd said.

He also recommends that homeowners invest time over the summer weather-proofing the house in other ways by making sure the house is airtight by sealing windows and doors with weather stripping.

"Around the windows you can use this silicon caulk -- they carry different colors now to match your house," he said.

And, as Santa Feans learned this past winter, sealing and insulation aren't just for doors and windows. It's also important to insulate water pipes.

If you have any reason to suspect your water pipes aren't warm enough, call a plumber and ensure your pipes are well-insulated. All residents should learn to turn off their water at its source to stop a leak quickly if a pipe bursts.

Other spring/summer projects?

*Get your chimney swept in case you have creosote buildup. Although fast-burning woods like aspen will help clear your chimneys of creosote, it's important to have a professional to check out your stovepipes.

*Once you've finished with the house, move out into the yard and start trimming trees. Gutters along your house can easily get clogged in the autumn with tree material, and the freeze and start causing problems with your roof. Pruning trees around the house can help minimize that problem.

*Pruning also helps preserve trees so they won't be damaged by heavy snows. Do that by removing branches that are too horizontal, said Bob Berry, a Santa Fe arborist. "Look for old damage in your trees. Look at the juncture where the branch meets the trunk. If you have sap in there, the tree has been damaged by previous storms."

*And, if you live along an area where the road crews dumped red salt to melt ice on the roads, watch for salt damage in your plants. "You'd see twig die-back, plants that look scorched, failure to bloom, failure to thrive," Berry said. The remedy -- which works only sometimes -- is to flood the area several times during the spring and summer to flush out the salt.

Once your house and garden are ready for next winter, you can sit back and enjoy the intense green and flowers of spring that result from a wet winter.

"The snow is wonderful," said Rand Lee, a manager at Payne's Nursery. "Because it's going to melt and it's going to go down into the ground and feed our plants.

"It's going to be a beautiful spring."