Holes are all over the outside of your house. No one thinks about this but if you own a Bergen County home you should.
Holes are punched through the exterior of your home for all sorts of reasons that most of us never realize. The water spigot you connected to your hose, the electrical lines bringing power, the cable lines connecting you to the internet, your central air compressor – every one of these is a hole in your home’s exterior.
Every hole is an opening and every opening can leak or let in anything from rain water that destroys your electrical panel box to mice.
In my time as a real estate agent I have seen home inspectors take the cover off an electrical panel box that looked perfectly fine from the outside. Once the cover was off we saw rust all over the inside. The power supply line coming into the house not only brought electricity but rain water droplets too.
That homeowner had to spend nearly $2,000 to fix what less than $2 worth of exterior sealant would have prevented.
Water can also, over time, create a mold issue and invite in termites (who love damp wood). Over time unsealed openings can deteriorate to a point where they allow unwelcome pests including mice.
Here’s something else too – those electrical lines along the side of your house. Are they secure? Is the outside cover (actually important insulation) intact? If not that must be fixed ASAP.
So every fall inspect your exterior to make sure all openings are sealed tight and all supply lines are in good shape before freezing temperatures come. You can certainly do this yourself or you can hire a handyman.
