The Spring Walk-Around: What to Check on Your House After a Toronto Winter

Every April the calls change. In winter it is planning: kitchens, basements, additions for later in the year. As soon as the snow melts, it is water. Wet basement corners, a stain on a ceiling, a deck that suddenly feels soft.

Most of it was visible weeks earlier to anyone who looked. So here is the walk-around we would do on our own houses once the snow is gone. It takes about an hour and you do not need a ladder.

Start with the downspouts. Are they all still attached? Do they drain well away from the house, or has an extension been knocked off by a snowblower and is now dumping water against the foundation? This is the single most common cause of a wet basement we see, and the cheapest to fix.

Then look at the ground right next to the house. Frost heave and settling move soil over a winter. You want it sloping away from the foundation on every side. If there is a low spot where water pools against the wall, build it back up with soil, not mulch. Mulch holds water.

Clear the window wells. Leaves and winter debris clog the drain at the bottom, and a window well full of water will find its way through the window.

Test the sump pump if you have one. Pour a bucket of water into the pit and watch it kick on and drain. Pumps fail quietly over the winter, and you find out during the first big April rain. If you have a backwater valve, open the access cover and check the flap moves freely and nothing is stuck in it.

Turn on the outdoor taps. This is the one people skip. A hose bib that froze over the winter can split inside the wall, where you cannot see it. It will not leak until the tap is turned on, and then it leaks into the basement ceiling or the wall cavity. Turn it on, then go inside and look and listen around where the pipe comes through. Five minutes. Could save you a ceiling.

Look at the roof from the ground. Binoculars help. You are looking for shingles that are missing, lifted or curled, especially along the edges and around chimneys and vents. Do not climb up there in April. Wet shingles and ladders do not mix.

While you are looking up, check the gutters. If they are full of last fall's leaves, that water has been going over the edge all spring. If you saw icicles or ice ridges along the eaves over the winter, go into the attic on a dry day with a flashlight and look for water stains or dark spots on the underside of the roof boards.

Walk the foundation and look for cracks. Hairline cracks in a poured foundation are common and usually harmless. Wider ones, ones that are stepped in a block wall, or ones that have opened since last year are worth showing to someone. A pencil mark at each end with the date makes it easy to see next spring whether a crack is growing.

Check the deck. Push on the railings. Look at where the deck attaches to the house and see if anything has pulled away. Walk it and notice any boards that flex more than you remember.

Last, the caulking around windows and doors. Winter is hard on it. Cracked or missing caulk lets water behind the trim, and that is a slow, quiet kind of rot.

None of this needs a contractor. If something on the list turns up a problem, at least you found it in April and not in the middle of a July thunderstorm.