Take advantage of the fall weather to protect your home with a fall audit.
In case the sudden temperature drops and robust colours haven’t alerted you, let us do it for you: Fall is here. It’s a beautiful time of year – crisp winds framed in vivid, earthy colours – reminding us that winter isn’t far away.
For homeowners, autumn is a great time to check off a number of to-do items to ensure your home is ready for the coming freezing weather. Water damage is your single largest risk as a homeowner, and can come from a variety of different causes, such as severe weather and the subsequent flooding that results, damage due to improper maintenance, and internal plumbing issues. Unlike unusual and devastating events like a fire, water damage often starts off very minor (such as a slow leak) and builds up over time, resulting in thousands of dollars in repair fees. Weatherproofing your home can be a significant step to saving you time and money in the long run.
Our Advice? Do an annual DIY fall audit. Here are some tips:
Outside your home:
- Check and clear your gutters/eavestroughs. Leaves and other debris can easily clog up your eavestroughs, causing a build-up of water that seeps into your windows and/or walls. Even the most watertight home can find excess water in its basement as a direct result of neglecting to clear gutters.
- Inspect your roof. It’s your first line of defense and one of the most important when it comes to keeping your home dry. Check the chimney(s), skylights, and vents to ensure that they are properly sealed, and in case you need a tutorial on how to properly seal, check out this article from DIY.
- Repair leaky windows and doors. These are notorious places for leaks to seep through, and often can be fixed with a little bit of silicon seal. For further tips, take a look at this link.
Inside your home:
- Appliances. Do a sweep of your appliances such as fridges, dishwashers, and washing machines to check for leaks or anything out of the ordinary. Your water heater should also be investigated annually.
- Water bills. An easy way to determine if there’s a leak in your home is to check your water bill. If it’s escalating (outside of the rising costs of water), there is likely a leak.
- Water detection sensors. Sensors can be placed throughout your home in vulnerable places where water and moisture are detected. Many of these sensors are IoT enabled and can communicate via an App. Eddy Home’s H2O sensor, for example, detects moisture and humidity and will alert you immediately through our My Eddy Home App.
- Water Main Shutoff. More than half of the non-weather-related damage inside your home is due to plumbing issues. Whether it’s a sudden burst of a pipe or an undetected, slow leak, a system installed on your water main that offers remote and automatic shutoff can save you thousands. Most insurance companies that offer discounts for such devices require a shutoff at the main, where water damage can be immediately halted. Eddy’s IQ is one example of this kind of technology, and qualified for all available insurer discounts.
Whether you have experienced water issues in the past, or want to ensure that it doesn’t happen in the future, proactivity is your best bet.
About Eddy Home Founded in 2014, Eddy Home is an industry leader in leak protection and water visibility solutions. Our suite of smart products offer a comprehensive water management system for homeowners that protects, controls, and conserves. Our products have saved thousands of customers millions of litres of water by continuously monitoring water usage in their home, and if something unusual is detected, alerting them to the issue. For more details, please contact us at 1 877 388 3339 or email info@eddyhome.com.
