Month: September 2019

Let’s face it: nothing beats fall in New England. If you’re looking to invite the new season into your home, we’ve got a few of the top decor tips for you:

1. Celebrate the Harvest Season

Fall is one of the best seasons to utilize natural elements in your home. Whether it’s a casual woodsy texture, or going full-blown autumn and decorating with pumpkins galore! Add patterned throw pillows to your living spaces for a great touch that will tie your home together. There’s plenty of DIY fall wreath options that will spark your creativity, too. 

If you want more, try these outdoor tips to add the harvest season to your home: 

• Line up gourds and pumpkins on your stoop or walkway
• Stop at a local farmstand for fresh, color mums. Choose one or two colors.
• Layer your fall display with a few hay bales.

2. Add Candles for Warmth and Light

Let’s admit it: one of the best parts of decor shopping is stopping to smell the candles. Adding different scented candles throughout your home is also one of the best ways to welcome the new season. Sprinkle fall scents in your bathroom, kitchen, living room, and bedrooms. Many candles also have a beautiful design and can also function as a decor piece!

3. Introduce New Colors Into Your Home

The best way to add fall colors to your home is to think of the changing of the leaves here in Connecticut. Crimson, burnt orange, yellow, and sage are great color choices to add to your home. 

Whether you pop in some new color by adding a new sign to the outside of your home, a colorful throw blanket or getting new place settings for your dinner table, you’ll be feeling fall in no time!

We hope you have fun decorating your home this season! With a new season comes time for home maintenance, as well. Before decorating your home for the new season, be sure to do an annual check on your home’s exterior.

 Through annual upkeep, you can avoid costly repairs and damage down the line. Our knowledgeable staff at Landmark Exteriors will answer your questions and set up a schedule for your specific needs. Call our office for details. (203) 838-3838

Chances are you don’t normally spend your time thinking about different ways to be electrocuted. Utility wires, power lines, and service drops pose an immediate shock or even be an electrocution hazard if they touch your roof. When the conditions are just right, you and your family could be at risk. When it comes to inspecting your house to make sure your roof is safe, here are some things you need to know.

Power lines and shingles do not mix

The most common roofing materials in the U.S. today are asphalt shingles. These shingles offer many options; they are colorful, durable, and inexpensive. While variety is a great benefit, the chips that are in the asphalt’s color make for a bad scenario. If the chips make contact with the power lines, not only can the asphalt crack from the heat, but it could result in a shock or electrocution of your roof. In theory, asphalt shingles are like strong sandpaper. They have ceramic chips that are sharp around the edges, and when that mixes with the sheath of the power lines that is particularly soft it could be extremely dangerous.

If push comes to shove, what is the worst possible outcome?

In order to understand the dangers of exposed wires, think about all the unencumbered electricity that is flowing through them. There are no fuses or breakers between the pole and service entrance so thus there is nothing to protect you or your family from being electrocuted if you come in contact with the bare wires.

The only thing that will protect the house is the ceramic chips because luckily they are not flammable. But underneath the ceramic is. The bare wires that are touching the shingles may not start a fire today or tomorrow, but it will only take one breeze or one specific movement that will let the neutral touch the hot. If this happens things will go from bad to worse very quickly.

If something does happen then who is responsible for the repairs?

Normally the service drop is both maintained and owned by an electric company, so when a power line comes across a roofline the responsibility could be on them to make sure it gets fixed. Homeowners should call their utility company to report a down wire and to report an accident if necessary.
For more information, or to schedule an appointment with one of our qualified roofers, contact Landmark Exteriors today!

Properly installed gutters help prevent landscape washout, termite infestation and undermined driveways, patios, and walkways. However, every home’s gutters will become clogged. Cleaning your gutters may seem like an unpleasant or pointless task, but it is one of the most important aspects of home maintenance. Here’s what you need to know:

Why Gutter Cleaning is Necessary

If your sink was clogged, would you call a plumber? The same goes for your clogged gutters. Cleaning your gutters and removing any debris helps to avoid large costs down the road. 

You might be thinking, ‘well, I looked up my gutters, and I don’t see anything!’ You’d be surprised what can be caught up in your gutters out of eyesight. The best way to ensure your gutters are clear is to hire a roofing professional every six months. Ultimately, gutter cleaning is necessary to ensure no damage occurs to your home, especially your roof. Here are some of the items you may not expect us to find when cleaning your gutters:

1. Silt and Leaves

Silt is essentially dirty and other tiny particles, including leaves, that build up into a soil layer at the bottom of your gutters. Without climbing on a ladder and going up to take a look, you may not notice silt in your gutters, but leaves are easier to see from the ground. Silt is one of the most harmful build-ups for your gutters, as it can cause your gutters to clog and lose the ability to properly drain the water completely. Instead, water will trickle down the trap from the roof.

While silt is one of the most dangerous conditions for your gutters, leaves are probably the most frustrating. As mentioned, they can be easily seen and can ball up to clog every part of your gutters.

2. Living Plants

Your backyard isn’t the only place for a garden to grow on your property. If silt gets caught in your gutters, they will become the perfect environment for plants to grow. While this doesn’t typically sound like a bad thing, it’s not an ideal situation for the structure of your roof and your home.

3. Tree Particles

Living in an area with abundant trees is an excellent way to cool down your home and add to your landscaping, but pieces of those trees may pose a problem for your gutters. Tree branches, seeds, and flowers can all easily become lodged in gutters.

4 Animal Nests

Birds, squirrels, mice and other small wildlife are all adorable, but what they can do to your gutters is not so cute. These critters can make nests in your gutters because they are enclosed and usually have materials ready to use.

5. Toys

If you have children practicing sports in the backyard, it may not come as a surprise that sports balls and toys can make their way up to your gutters. These items may be invisible from the ground but can cause bad clogs if maintenance isn’t performed.

We’re all guilty of it – waiting until something becomes a problem before we take action. Preventative maintenance helps you avoid costly repairs, and our experts at Landmark Exteriors will take proper care of your home’s needs. To schedule your next appointment, contact us today!

Your HVAC unit works to make your home comfortable and cool by squeezing the humidity and heat out of the air. If your system is continuously struggling to cool your home, and your energy bills are skyrocketing, then your roof might be the one to blame. There are a few ways your roof can make your HVAC work harder than it is supposed to:

Heat Absorption

If you’ve ever worn dark clothes outside when it’s 90 degrees outside, you know how your dark roof feels. Darker colors absorb and hold in more heat compared to lighter colors. If your roof has dark asphalt shingles, then it will absorb and trap the heat in the attic space. Then from your attic, the heat presses into your living spaces trying to find somewhere else to go. As a result, your air conditioning unit works to try to keep your home cool.

One-way heat transfer

Heat will naturally transfer into your home through the roofing materials, causing your AC to work harder. Warm air can also build up inside the attic space from the outside temperatures. The best way to keep this from happening is to invest in new roofing materials. Your nest options is a roof that not only reflect the outside heat, but that will also release the heat that is trapped inside. Re-emissive metal roofs do both by releasing the absorbed solar radiation from your attic along with reflecting the sun’s rays on the outside.

Invest in a radiant barrier

If the ducts for your HVAC system have to run through your attic or a crawlspace, then a radiant barrier will help save you some money. Due to the exterior heat that is suffocating your attic, your ducts could lose cold air. When you get the right barrier installed on your ducts, the cooler air will remain unharmed by the heat. This will allow cold air to flow to the rooms you want it in.

Another thing to remember is to make sure that your attic ventilation is working correctly. If your ventilation is inadequate, then the heat will sit there. You can harm your HVAC unit this way, causing the need for an expensive repair or replacement. Your shingles may start baking from underneath and could crack.
Whether it’s a hand-nailed cedar roof, copper portico awning, unique tile installation or any other roofing project, the team of experts at Landmark Exteriors will work with you to create a superior roofing system and design that will exceed your expectations. If your roof needs replacing, contact us today to set up a consultation!