Tag: flashing

Pre-Winter Checklist: What Home Systems to Inspect Before the Freeze

As fall turns to winter here in southwestern Pennsylvania, even a few overlooked maintenance items can lead to costly surprises. From frozen pipes to failing furnaces, now is the time to inspect and prepare your home’s major systems before the first real cold snap hits.

Here’s Hill Property Inspections’ professional pre-winter checklist—drawn from years of inspecting homes across Cambria, Somerset, Westmoreland, Blair, Indiana, Bedford and surrounding Counties.

1. Roof & Attic: Stop Leaks Before They Start

Your roof is your first line of defense against snow and ice.

• Inspect shingles for curling, cracking, or missing pieces—especially near valleys and chimneys.

• Check flashing around vents, skylights, and penetrations. Even small gaps can lead to leaks when ice accumulates.

• Look inside the attic for dark stains, damp insulation, or visible daylight—these are red flags for air leaks or roof damage.

• Verify ventilation. Proper airflow through soffit and ridge vents helps prevent condensation and ice damming.

Pro Tip: If you can see frost or moisture on attic nails, your ventilation or insulation is out of balance.

2. Gutters & Downspouts: Direct Water Away

Clogged gutters can create ice dams that force melting snow under your roof covering.

• Clear all leaves and debris. Flush the system with water to ensure flow.

• Confirm downspout extensions discharge at least 4–6 feet from the foundation.

• Inspect grading. Soil should slope away from the house—at least 6 inches over the first 10 feet.

These small adjustments prevent foundation seepage and protect basement walls through the wet freeze-thaw season.

3. HVAC System: Clean, Service, and Test

Cold weather exposes weak heating systems fast.

• Replace furnace filters and ensure registers are open and unobstructed.

• Have your furnace or boiler serviced by a qualified technician. Annual cleaning keeps efficiency high and reduces carbon monoxide risk.

• Test the thermostat and inspect vent connections for rust or gaps.

• Consider an infrared scan (available with Hill Property Inspections) to check for air leakage and uneven heat distribution.

If your system is older, now’s also the time to budget for an upgrade or backup source.

4. Plumbing & Water Systems: Prevent Freezing

Frozen pipes are among the most common—and costly—winter emergencies.

• Disconnect garden hoses and drain exterior faucets.

• Insulate exposed pipes in unheated crawlspaces, basements, or garages.

• Locate your main water shut-off valve and make sure every adult in the household knows how to use it.

• If you have a sump pump, test it. Pour water into the basin and confirm automatic operation.

For homes on private wells, ensure the well pit or pressure tank area is insulated and protected from drafts.

5. Safety Devices: Test and Replace Batteries

• Smoke and CO detectors: test each unit and replace batteries.

• Fire extinguishers: ensure at least one is rated for A-B-C use and stored where it’s visible and easy to access.

• Dryer vent: clean out lint buildup to reduce fire risk.

6. Exterior & Entry Points: Keep the Cold Out

• Seal gaps around doors and windows with weatherstripping or caulk.

• Inspect exterior lighting for proper operation—shorter days require dependable fixtures.

• Check sidewalks and handrails for damage before freeze events make repairs difficult.

Final Thoughts

A pre-winter inspection is more than a checklist—it’s preventive insurance. By tackling these simple tasks now, you protect your roof, foundation, and comfort all season long.

If you’d rather have a certified professional evaluate these systems for you, Hill Property Inspections offers comprehensive pre-winter assessments, infrared scans, and maintenance inspectionsthroughout southwestern Pennsylvania.

Schedule your winter-readiness inspection today:

📞 1-833-HILL-PRO

🌐 www.hillinspections.com

Hill Property Inspections, LLC is a full-service residential and commercial inspection firm based in the Johnstown, PA area.

Common Defects: Missing Kickout Flashing

One of the most common deficiencies we encounter at nearly every home we inspect is missing kickout flashing. To understand its importance, we should first define what flashing is in general. The term flashing refers to any impervious material (usually metal) that is installed – especially at roofs – to prevent water or moisture intrusion that could damage underlying materials, like wood wall sheathing. Most flashing is always installed because it’s simply a given that it must be to prevent fast and widespread damage. Kickout flashing, on the other hand, is usually not installed, despite the fact that it is extremely important and fairly easy to put in place, and the damage caused is often concealed for quite some time before it is discovered.

Kickout flashing is designed to be installed at the base of roof-wall intersections, along the bottom of the wall where the roof eave and wall meet. A common example would be a lower garage roof joining a wall of a higher second story. The kickout flashing is typically L-shaped and is installed at the base of the wall with one edge angled toward the downspout. The purpose of the kickout is, as its name suggests, to “kick” (divert) rainwater coming down the wall into the gutter rather than onto the wall material below. The end of the gutter in this same area should also be at least one inch from the adjoining wall rather than directly against it. Here are a couple of example illustrations of kickout flashing and where it should be installed:

Kickout flashing is often neglected because it is viewed as a mere add-on and is small. When a roofer has to install an entire roof with long pieces of flashing in multiple areas, it is easy to forget about the much smaller and seemingly less significant kickouts. Unfortunately, though, that error can result in quite a bit of damage that will likely go unnoticed for quite some time. In fact, I would wager that if the siding below corners without kickouts were removed on many homes, water damage would be evident on the wall sheathing beneath more often than not. Here’s an example of wall damage beneath a roof-wall intersection that didn’t contain kickout flashing after the siding was removed:


In cases like this, evidence of damage is usually visible on the siding itself, but no one would know that this level of damage was present on the wall sheathing without doing some invasive work. And needless to say, this damage would only continue to worsen if not located and repaired.

Take a look at your roof and all areas where the roof surface meets a sidewall. If no kickout flashing is present (and it likely won’t be), consider contacting a qualified contractor to have kickouts installed. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to also have them take a look at the surrounding wall areas for signs of water damage that may be hidden and need repaired.

*To visit our main website, go to http://www.hillinspections.com