{"id":177,"date":"2009-12-17T15:27:07","date_gmt":"2009-12-17T15:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/noyeshallallen.wordpress.com\/?p=135"},"modified":"2017-11-09T08:52:54","modified_gmt":"2017-11-09T14:52:54","slug":"first-winter-in-your-home-avoid-the-big-3-headaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/blog\/first-winter-in-your-home-avoid-the-big-3-headaches\/","title":{"rendered":"First Winter as a Maine Homeowner? Avoid the &#8220;Big 3&#8221; Headaches"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"_mcePaste\">This recent blast of cold weather reminds us that winter&#8217;s coming. Every year, some clients of our <a title=\"Noyes Hall &amp; Allen Insurance, South Portland Maine\" href=\"http:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\" target=\"_blank\">Maine insurance agency<\/a> report water or ice damage to their property. Many of these come from people who are spending their first winter since buying or significantly renovating their homes.<\/div>\n<div>Every house is different; depending upon the roof shape and slope, landscaping, location and elevation, some homes are more exposed to winter&#8217;s peril more than others.<\/div>\n<div>Here are a few tips to help you and your home weather your first winter together.<\/div>\n<div><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/6a00e5540bfd478834010536f1be0a970c-120wi.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-137\" title=\"6a00e5540bfd478834010536f1be0a970c-120wi\" alt=\"cold weather thermometer\" src=\"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/6a00e5540bfd478834010536f1be0a970c-120wi.jpg\" width=\"120\" height=\"142\" \/><\/a>SNOW<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"_mcePaste\">\u2022 Watch for snow accumulation on the roof. Heavy snow load can lead to roof collapse. A roofing contractor will often be a good source for a reputable snow removal service.<\/div>\n<div id=\"_mcePaste\">\u2022 Remove snow from basement stairwells, window wells and all walls.Melting snow can lead to water damage and moisture intrusion.<\/div>\n<div><strong>ICE DAMS<\/strong><\/div>\n<div><strong><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Ice Dams are an accumulation of ice at the lower edge of a sloped roof. A warm attic melts snow, causing water to run down and refreeze at the roof \u2019s edge, where it\u2019s much cooler. If ice builds up and blocks water from draining off the roof, water is forced under the roof covering and into your attic or down the inside walls of your house.<a href=\"http:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/ice-dam-detail.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-136\" title=\"Ice Dam diagram\" alt=\"Anatomy of an Ice Dam\" src=\"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/ice-dam-detail.jpg?w=150\" width=\"150\" height=\"136\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<div><strong><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<div>\u2022 Keep your attic well ventilated so it maintains a temperature close to that of the outdoors, which will minimize the risk of ice dams forming.<\/div>\n<div id=\"_mcePaste\">\u2022 Make sure your gutters are clear of leaves and debris.<\/div>\n<div><strong>FREEZING PIPES<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"_mcePaste\">Pipes in attics, crawl spaces and outside walls are particularly vulnerable to extreme cold. To keep water in your pipes from freezing:<\/div>\n<div id=\"_mcePaste\">\u2022 Fit exposed pipes with insulation sleeves or wrapping to slow heat transfer.<\/div>\n<div id=\"_mcePaste\">\u2022 Seal cracks and holes in outside walls and foundations near water pipes with caulking.<\/div>\n<div><em>In bitterly cold weather:<\/em><\/div>\n<div id=\"_mcePaste\">\u2022 Keep cabinet doors open to allow warm air to circulate around pipes.<\/div>\n<div id=\"_mcePaste\">\u2022 Keep a slow trickle of water flowing through faucets connected to pipes that run through an unheated or unprotected space.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This recent blast of cold weather reminds us that winter&#8217;s coming. Every year, some clients of our Maine insurance agency report water or ice damage to their property. Many of these come from people who are spending their first winter since buying or significantly renovating their homes. Every house is different; depending upon the roof [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,13,14,16,18],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-condo-insurance","category-homeowners-insurance","category-personal-insurance","category-safety","category-weather","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4773,"href":"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177\/revisions\/4773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noyeshallallen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}