Outdoor Inspection Checklist

I always hated outside home maintenance, but you got to do it.

It’s spring—well, it was officially spring a while ago, but who cares? It’s time to check out the outside of your home. After all the snow has melted and the temperatures rise, you must look around to see what might have been damaged or changed from winter.

Outside Inspection Checklist

Here it goes, your starter outdoor inspection list. I’ll try to post a bit more detail as time goes on, but please let me know if I missed something that you have on your list! Sorry, this one is a long one cause look at that list!

• Inspect roof

• Inspect chimney bricks and flange

• Inspect vent pipes

• Inspect your siding

• Inspect doors or windows

• Inspect the foundation

Warning: Getting on the roof is dangerous. If you don’t like heights or don’t feel up to this, hire someone to do it for you. Upkeep doesn’t want to see you get hurt out there!

Before we begin, take a camera with you during this inspection. That way, if you forget something or want to compare it to last year, it’s on your phone! If you aren’t comfortable with a repair, sending those photos to the person you are hiring is helpful.

Roof Inspection

While on the roof, take a look at your shingles.

Are they bent?
Are they falling off or deteriorating?
Do you have a moss garden growing up there?

Look around and see if you have any issues like the above. Depending on the age of the roof, you may be looking at a small replacement of shingles that you can go pick up from a home store (don’t forget about the color but you already took a photo with your camera right????)

Chimney Inspection

Take a look at the bricks. What do you see?

Do they seem intact?
Do they have rounded or what looks like eroded corners?
Is the cap intact and not cracked?
Do you have a cage on the top to prevent raccoons from becoming BBQ? (Don’t forget about the screws that attach the cage to the cap, those are always rusting off)
Do you see any chips of brick or chunks of mortar sitting around the roof?

Vent Pipes Inspection

Take a look at all the pipes sticking out of your roof. Yeah, those ones whose function you might not have known.

Do the rubber boots look intact?
Is the rubber cracked for flaking off?
How do the shingles look around them?
Do you have catches on the top or any damage to the pipe itself?

That’s all for now. I hope you enjoyed the first half of your outdoor inspection checklist. I’ll power more in the next half. Please help spread the word by sharing my newsletter.