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Fire & Water - Cleanup & Restoration

Winter Weather Advisory - Water Intrusion Style

2/8/2016 (Permalink)

photo courtesy wwlp.com

Well, well, well……what have we here???

As I was driving through Northampton last Thursday I was chuckling at the number of people walking the streets in SHORTS and T-Shirts!  I was thinking “it’s February 4th right???”  It’s just too funny to see and we have all seemed to grow used to this “El Nino Winter”. 

Along comes Friday the 5th and BAM! What is this white stuff that falls from the sky?  Our first “real snow” of the year hit the Pioneer Valley and points into Central and Eastern Massachusetts got nearly a foot of fresh snowpack.  It’s fun to watch how our world reacts with the threat of snow.  But now, with snowpack, we see temperatures at night routinely falling into the low teens, roughly 10 degrees colder than it has been at night.  It’s interesting how that works, like adding ice to a cooler.  My Dad lives in upstate NY, it was 23 degrees there on Saturday morning with no snow on the ground, we were at 13 degrees to start the day. 

Here is this blog’s walk away point.  We have been lulled to sleep with the lovely warm temperatures and lack of snow.  As we begin to see temps go a bit lower and the snow pack on the roof and ground get deeper in Hampshire County, Western Massachusetts and points east, let’s not forget where we ended up last year.  Water from melting roof snow will freeze on the soffits causing ice dams (see my blog LOOOONNNG ago regarding ice dams).  Roof rake the soffits about 3 – 4 feet up the roof and save yourself a headache from water intrusion due to water back up on the roof.

Keep an eye on your plumbing as well.  The cold temps coming will potentially cause some pipes to freeze up and split.  Again, water intrusion opportunity, flooded basement and living space possibility.  Keep an eye on suspect plumbing, leave faucets lazily dripping to move water in pipes or cabinets open to allow warm air to keep them from freezing up. 

Should you find yourself in the unpleasant scenario of water intrusion from ice dams or frozen pipes (or ANY other source of course), remember that SERVPRO of Hampshire County can respond quickly, dry out your structure and make minor repairs as needed while working with you and your insurance carrier to help make your life a bit easier during a trying time. 

Bundle up this week kids.  It’s going to be winter for a few days!

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