4 Seasons of Building Damage

There are 365 days, 52 weeks, 12 months and 4 seasons in a year, during this time your building will be fighting against all different kinds of weather conditions. Although you cannot stop mother nature and natural weathering you can prepare yourself and your properties for it by taking the seasonal changes into account. Deterioration of all forms happens throughout the year, but with the different weather conditions in the different seasons, you can often predict the level of damage and what type of damage will occur based on this.

Each season, spring, summer, autumn and winter brings a different problem to the maintenance of your building. Knowing these issues and what might happen during each quarter should help with the refurbishment plan of your building, and will help you keep the damages under control. So here’s what to look out for during each season:

Spring

The weather in spring is the most unreliable, it can go from freezing temperatures to sudden sunny spells in the space of a week, but one thing is certain, spring seems to be a very rainy season. With all of these points noted, we advise you to pay close attention to your walls and watch out for cut edge corrosion and cracking in your cladding and gutters. The continual change of temperature and frequent rain can mean that rainwater in your cracks and gutters can freeze and melt constantly – which will widen cracks as the freezing water expands, worsening the conditions of your damages. The indecisive weather can also cause any exposed metal sheets to rust and ware away. Rust is a common cause of building failure and collapsing, a very dangerous situation to leave your building in.

Summer

During the summer you protect yourself from the sun by using sun cream, wearing shades and hats etc. but what about your building? The sun can seriously deteriorate the paint on your building, it fades the colour in the paint by the bleaching sun rays. Due to shade, time and location of the sun this will affect some areas faster than others, which will leave your building looking patchy and far more uninviting. The summer also sees the increase of wildlife – as stated in our previous blog, animals, birds and insects can cause serious impairments to your property. Damages such as bird droppings, nesting, scratching of paint which leads to flaking etc. these issues seem to be far more common in the warmer months, we advise further maintenance and precautions during the summer to reduce the risks of these types of issues.

Autumn

The main issue during autumn is caused by trees! As the weather turns, leaves will begin to fall off the trees and unfortunately for your building often get trapped in your gutters. As the months go on, these leaves will begin to build up and eventually block your gutters. This means that rainwater can no longer leave the gutters, this will also then get left in the systems. Without proper drainage, the water will either stay in the gutter which will corrode and crack the systems or it will find an alternative way of drainage, which is often internally. This means that a once external building issue can soon affect the interior too – if not treated! The corrosion and cracking this water causes will weaken the roofs, guttering and walls of your building producing an unstable property that is now defenceless to more costly damages.

Winter

Unlike us, our buildings cannot wear a coat to warm up throughout winter, instead, they simply have to the face the icy temperatures head on – without the right protection on your property, severe problems can transpire. Freezing temperatures are known for cracking and peeling paint, believe it or not, buildings can be subject to frostbite, especially in damp conditions where the water turns to ice. Roller shutter doors are a big victim of this problem, as the doors get open at the beginning of the day the freezing temperatures overnight have left the paint weak and often this will then crack with the movement of the door. As in Spring, freezing water in cracks will also bare a problem as they will open them up (literally) to further deterioration.

Although many of these issues described can happen at any point during the year, some are more commonly witnessed in certain months. Different forms of maintenance need to be planned for each season as the issues occur. Cladding Coatings can help you plan for each season and the problems that time of year will face. Our services are carried out all year round, during every season – we can prepare your unit for the future years, protecting it not just for the seasons ahead but for years ahead, with our 10-year guarantee.

Call now or email us to book your FREE site survey.