Home repairs you can't ignore

It there is one piece of advice concerning repairs on your home it is, to borrow from Barney Fife, nip it in the bud.

Small problems will never go away by themselves and, if left unattended, will almost certainly get worse.

"The first sign that you suspect anything is wrong, you should have someone come over and check it out," said Stephanie Miller, president of Local Handy Hands Inc., a small home-improvement business run by Miller and her husband, Ty.

That advice is particularly true with the leaks that can happen in a house.

"If you let water keep coming, it will keep coming and it will effect everything in its way," she said. "That includes the drywall and, eventually, the actual foundation will start rotting."

Miller pointed to a house she and her husband are working on now near Lake Norman that had such severe water damage, the inspector was afraid to enter it.

"Water can destroy your house," she said.

A lot of times the Millers don't know the extent of water damage until the walls come out.

"We call that 'invisible work,' " she said. "And what we have found is that what you cannot see it usually eight to 10 times worse than what you can see."

In other words, by the time you see the stain on the wall or ceiling, water has been causing major problems on the other side of it.

And a lot of those troubles start from something small that, literally, grew bigger.

Sam Burgard, of Sam -n- Hammer Building, Remodeling & Repair, said a common cause of roof damage is a tree too close to the house.

"If you have a big tree rubbing against the roof," Burgard explained, "every time the wind blows a branch could scrapping off shingles or rubbing a hole in them."

Burgard said that even if you like the tree, the damage it is causing isn't worth it.

"You either have to trim it back or cut it down," he said.

Another water problem stems from gutters that are left uncleaned.

Burgard said said that as the water fills up in the gutter it can cascade over "like a waterfall." And when it does, it seeks out a low spot near the house, which is counter-productive.

"The purpose of gutters is to divert water away from the house," he said. "So if you have clogged gutters and you're not going to clean them, it's better not to have them at all, because then the water would just run off as it rains instead of building up and then spilling over."

Burgard also recommends inspecting your house, inside and out, at least once a year.

He said to look for aged or broken caulking around windows and other places, rotted siding or other wooden parts of the house and leaks around pipes and other fitting.

"And don't be afraid to call a plumber," Burgard said. "I know people say they don't like to pay that minimum — my plumber charges $85 an hour —but most small work can be done in an hour and it could save you a lot in the long run."

Burgard and Miller both said a potential big saver is to check out the "boots" around the pipes and chimneys on the roof.

Burgard said the material these sealing items are made from can become brittle and porous relatively quickly.

"The hot North Carolina sun cracks these boots within four or five years," he said. "Changing them is an easy way to prolong the life of your roof."

Other tips to keeping your house from falling apart include:

n Keep it painted, especially the outside. The old line offered to new Navy sailors used to be, "If it moves, salute it. If if doesn't, paint it." Paint keeps the harsh weather from having its way with your house.

n Do the work yourself. A good portion of what you pay for when hiring out a job is the expertise. But another good slice is the labor of the person doing the work. If you think you have the know-how and know which side of the hammer to hold, take a crack at it.

n There are numerous handy man books and Web sites that can help move a project along.