How Ottawa’s Winters Actually Damage Your Home (And What to Do About It)

You might be surprised at just how resilient your home is. A typical Ottawa winter month is from November to March. That means cold temperatures for a long period of time, often accompanied with lots of rainfall. As the seasons change, the cumulative effect of all those hard-wearing months can result in pricey repairs. Find out how to shield your home from the harshest elements and get your house ready for Ottawa winters.

While most people are familiar with the challenges posed by Ottawa’s winter months on a residential structure, it is important to gain insight into the affects that these seasons have on houses and how to deal with resulting damages.

Freeze/Thaw Cycles and Your Home’s Foundation

Freeze/thaw cycles occur when water freezes into ice within cracks in your home’s foundation

While many buildings in Ottawa grapple with issues stemming from single components, other structures must contend with a web of interconnected problems. Water that infiltrates hairline cracks or fissures in concrete, brick, or stone can wreak havoc through the process of freeze-thaw cycling. Water inside these cracks freezes into ice during the winter months, expanding by about 9%. As the ice then melts in warmer months, it seeps into the newly widened crack (or gap) and continues the destructive cycle, until someone intervenes to repair the damage.

As people expand their homes to better suit their needs, their buildings are often put under excessive stress. As the climate continues to change, houses and other structures are put under pressure and suffer serious damage. Cracks appear in walls, stairs and driveways, allowing water to penetrate into window wells and threaten the integrity of buildings.

What to do:

• Go out and inspect the exterior of your foundation periodically throughout the seasons (spring/ fall) for any cracks that may appear or cracks that are getting wider.
• Fill any cracks with a polyurethane or epoxy based crack filler that is designed to withstand freeze-thaw cycling.
• Create slope to grade away from the wall. Avoid accumulation of water close to the foundation.
• Yes. Larger horizontal cracks are generally considered more serious and a structural assessment would be advisable, as well as cracks greater than 6mm in width.

Road Salt Destroys More Than You Think

For the 10 weeks from October to April, Ottawa roads are sprayed with tons of salt to make driving safer. Most people don’t realize that all that salt doesn’t magically disappear into thin air. It adheres to your boots, your pet’s paws, strollers, clothing, and anything else that enters your home during salt season. And once inside, it continues to do the very thing it was meant to do: dissolve hard substances.

Salt is particularly damaging as the crystals are abrasive and the resultant brine tracks into the wood floor structure causing warping or cupping of the floor. In addition the finish is worn and has to be sanded back to restore the floor. Salt also causes problems with tile and Concrete as the grout absorbs the salt and causes it to go brittle and crumble away.

Keep the area around entry points to your home clean, and use two mats- one outside and one inside- to catch large items, moisture, and dry materials that may contain salt. For hard surfaces such as tile, wood, stone, and marble, regularly sweep and mop with a pH neutral cleaning solution to prevent salt from drying onto the surface and etching away at the finish.

For landlords and property managers, salt damage to flooring doesn’t look as good as clean, undamaged flooring. And it can end up costing a lot of money over the long-term to repair or replace damaged floors. As part of their landlord maintenance services, companies like Earnest Homes approach this by identifying moisture and salt damage to flooring during seasonal turnouts so repairs can be completed before the next tenants move in.

Ice Damming Threatens Your Roof and Ceilings

Ice dams form when melted snow on the roof surface at the upper most point of the roof freezes to form ice at the colder eave. As the water continues to melt the snow, the ice at the eave prevents water from draining through the roofing shingles. Instead the water flows under the shingles into the roof framing potentially causing extensive damage. This problem is exacerbated when the attic is not adequately insulated.

As Ice daming is a major cause of interior water damage in many cities across Canada, it is something home owners need to be aware of. The result of unsightly water marks or stains on walls can quickly become penetrations through walls and ceilings when left untouched, also attacking insulation in attics. Many Ice dams also harbour large amounts of mould growth as well.

Attic leaks and problems can be prevented in two ways: Insulation and Ventilation.

• Ensure adequate insulation in the attic space, meeting the insulation levels as found in the current building code, RSI-8.6 (or R-49) for Ottawa at renovation time.
• Make sure your attic is ventilated properly with a balanced amount of intake and exhaust vents. Soffit and eave vents pull air in while roof ridge vents pull hot air out. If your roof is not properly ventilated it can cause severe damage to your roof.
• Use a roof rake to remove the first few feet of snow from eaves after a heavy snowfall. This will prevent you having to climb on the roof.
• Annually have a roof specialist check your roof for any damaged or missing shingles and to ensure there are no leaks around any metal or plastic roof flashing.

Your HVAC System Suffers Through Winter Too

In Ottawa’s colder months, your heating system is in high use and can draw large amounts of dust, dirt and other particulate matter through the filters into the heating system’s air ducts. Known as a key contributor to indoor air quality, the US Environmental Protection Agency states that the indoor air quality could decrease in winter due to the increased usage of heating systems in a more airtight home, but proper filter maintenance can help mitigate this.

A clogged filter can have undesirable effects on your furnace’s performance, cause you to use more energy to maintain a comfortable temperature and even spread dust, allergens and fine particulate throughout your home. But in older homes, another hazard can lurk in the ductwork when the humidity from kitchens and bathrooms is not properly managed by your HVAC system, the growth of mould.

What to do:

• Change your home’s HVAC filters seasonally. For homeowners who heavily use their system during the winter months, that means every 60 to 90 days. Just because you don’t have a furry friend at home doesn’t mean you can neglect to change your filters more frequently during winter months when there are even more allergens floating around in the air.
• Have your air conditioner tuned up and any needed repairs done during the fall, before the heating season begins.
• Continue to use bathroom and kitchen fan(s) to manage humidity levels inside.
• Ventilation with heat recovery. Fresh air supply is maintained while avoiding heat loss.

Post-Winter Cleaning Is Not Optional

Priority areas after an Ottawa winter include:

• Strategic placement of entry way floor and grout cleaning to target areas with highest exposure to salt and other grit.
• Baseboards & doorframes.
• All the HVAC vents (including ceiling fan light grates) and returns that have a season’s worth of dust and debris.
• Treat all window frames and sills with a fungicide based paint. During the winter months window frames and sills can accumulate moisture allowing mould to develop.

As the temperatures begin to rise and we swap our winter woolly’s for warm weather wear and embrace the fresh faces of spring, it is a great time to have your home treated to a professional clean. Not only will this give your home a much needed facelift, ensuring timeworn surfaces are protected and restored to their former glory, but also allow you to see just how much damage has been incurred over the cold months.

Every winter in Ottawa can cause significant damage to your building. Prevent ongoing wear and tear from freeze-thaw, salt, roof leaks and air system contamination by protecting your asset with regular maintenance. For a thorough post-winter refresh, an Ottawa deep cleaning can help restore your home after months of salt, dust, and grime buildup. And if winter damage has you considering putting your property on the market, a clean my house for sale Ottawa service can help ensure it makes the best possible first impression on buyers.