Preparing Your House For Winter Starts With Ventilation And Smart Maintenance

Send us a text

A scratchy throat and a pounding head turned into a hard look at what winter really does to a house—and how to stop small issues from becoming big, expensive messes. We open with the realities of backup teams and why a multi-inspector firm keeps your project on track when life happens, then shift into the seasonal steps that keep water out, heat in, and stress low.

We get practical about cold-weather prep: disconnecting hoses and insulating hose bibs, clearing gutters so downspouts actually move water away, and accepting that unconditioned garages crack because materials move with temperature swings. From there, we pull back the attic hatch and get specific about ventilation and insulation—how ice damming forms, why icicles are a warning sign, and the simple checks that prevent water from backing under shingles. If you’ve ever seen a new roof still struggle in winter, we explain the hidden workmanship gaps we find: ridge vents without a cutout, soffit intake stuffed with insulation, and gable vents left to short-circuit airflow. We also share practical venting guidelines, when to use baffles, and why hipped roofs often need more balanced intake.

Maintenance isn’t just for cars. A home has more parts, more pathways for moisture, and more ways to fail quietly before you notice. That’s why we advocate routine maintenance inspections every couple of years, even if we didn’t do your original home inspection. An unbiased set of eyes pays for itself by catching ventilation errors, missing insulation, and risky shortcuts after a roof install. And if you’re choosing a real estate agent, we explain how to vet for thoroughness and why asking an inspector for candid feedback can save you headaches later.

Ready to winter-proof your place and dodge ice dams, mold, and premature roof wear? Hit follow, share this with a homeowner friend, and leave a quick review to tell us the one winter task you’re tackling this week.

Support the show

To learn more about Habitation Investigation, the Three-time Winner of the Best Home Inspection Company in the Midwest Plus the Winner of Consumer Choice Award for Columbus Ohio visit Home Inspection Columbus Ohio - Habitation Investigation (homeinspectionsinohio.com)

NBC4 news segments: The importance of home inspections, and what to look for | NBC4 WCMH-TV

Advice from experts: Don’t skip the home inspection | NBC4 WCMH-TV

OSU student’s mysterious symptoms end up tied to apartment’s air quality | NBC4 WCMH-TV

How to save money by winterizing your home | NBC4 WCMH-TV

Continuing Education for Ohio Agents Scheduled classes
Continuing Education for Ohio Agents Course lis...

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Hey everybody, welcome to the podcast.
Jim and Laura here, of course,the office goddess.

SPEAKER_02 (00:06):
Hello, everyone.

SPEAKER_01 (00:07):
Alright, so I'm not feeling good today.
I noticed.
Yes, I don't get sick veryoften, but when I do.

SPEAKER_02 (00:16):
Holy macaroni.

SPEAKER_01 (00:17):
All right.

SPEAKER_02 (00:18):
Okay, so ladies, I have a question for you.
So there's woman cold and mancold.
Woman cold.
We suck it up.
We're getting the kids.
We're doing the laundry.
We're, you know, we're being us.
Man cold.
Uh I need snuggles with thepuppy.
I just I just need to sit in theTV, watch Snuggles, puppy, blah,

(00:41):
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,blah.
Whimpering every couple ofminutes.

SPEAKER_01 (00:44):
I do admit I I do whimper.
I probably sound pretty patheticwhen I don't feel good.
Yes, you do.
But my nose is overall is fine.
My throat is a little scratchy,but nothing big.
It's my head.
So I wonder if I have a sinusinfection going on.
But I don't know.
And does this happen once a yearto me?

SPEAKER_02 (01:05):
About this time.

SPEAKER_01 (01:06):
Is it about this time?

SPEAKER_02 (01:08):
Because I usually get it like change of season,
like to fall, like fall towinter, and then like spring to
summer is when I get hit thehardest.

SPEAKER_01 (01:18):
No, you have bronchitis.
I get bronchitis.
Yeah.
So anyway.
Not a whimper.
No, she's not whimpered.
But so my feeling like crabtoday made me think that he was
thinking.
Alright, change the seasons.
Because you're gonna getbronchitis, likely, unless you

(01:40):
like take real extra care oflike echinacea and other things.
You're you're you're probablygonna get that.

SPEAKER_02 (01:47):
And I could just stay in the house and not leave.

SPEAKER_01 (01:50):
That would be even better.
According to you, I get thisthing once a year, like a sinus
infection, it just hurts.
I'm gonna bend over and thenstand up the pressure on my
head, it just sucks.
So I I did have an inspectionschedule for tomorrow, but one
of the other inspectors is gonnado it for me, which is one of
the benefits of using a homeinspection company that has
multi-inspectors.

SPEAKER_02 (02:11):
Something like this happens, you get backup.

SPEAKER_01 (02:13):
Yeah, so if somebody's sick or they're on
vacation.
Or an emergency happens.
Yes, somebody else can fill in.
So that that's a huge benefitfor multi-inspector companies to
recommend those.
But it also had me thinkingabout your how and we mentioned
this before.
Your house has more parts to itthan your car does.

(02:37):
But yet you expect something togo wrong for your car every year
or two.
You're gonna expect to changethe tires, change the braid.
You gotta change the oil everyyear.

SPEAKER_02 (02:46):
Oil's like every 5,000, depending on the oil now.

SPEAKER_01 (02:49):
They got better oils now.
So every 5,000 miles, you Ithink I seen one with 8,500 the
other day.
I don't know if I trust that,but change the oil.
There are things that wear out,just like your roof on your
house.
If it's shingled, that's a wearpart.
Mellow's a wear part, also, butit will like 40 years.
40, 50 years, which is awesome.

SPEAKER_02 (03:08):
And there's stuff that they can coat it with that
can extend it even longer.

SPEAKER_01 (03:13):
Correct.
So change the season, had methinking about houses and how
you for the change of season,you need to get that house
ready.
And I know something we're gonnabe doing because it's gonna be,
I think, 20 degrees.

SPEAKER_02 (03:27):
Monday?

SPEAKER_01 (03:28):
Monday morning, Tuesday night, somewhere around
there.
It's gonna be like 20 degrees.
It's gonna be a low.

SPEAKER_02 (03:35):
So which is why Laura was out putting stuff in
the chicken cootin.

SPEAKER_01 (03:38):
Taking care of the chickens, and we're gonna take
the hose off the hose bib andthen put the insulation thing
over that hose bib to help keepit from freezing.

SPEAKER_02 (03:48):
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (03:50):
So we're gonna do that, but uh but the expansion
contraction because it'schanging temperatures.
Why people ask us about like agarage?
If it's a finished garage, oftenthere are all kinds of cracks in
the drywall in the garage.
Well, the garages are not heatedor cooled.

SPEAKER_02 (04:08):
Typically.
I have seen some nice ones.

SPEAKER_01 (04:11):
We have seen some, but if you think about Ohio,
that thing's gonna go from 100degrees during the summers,
maybe a little bit hotter,depending upon the ventilation
in that garage.
100 degrees down to maybe 10below.
That is a huge temperature swingfor that drywall and the joint.
So you're gonna expect movementand some cracks in that is not a

(04:34):
big deal.
But you do need to take care ofyour house and expect some
issues to come up.

SPEAKER_02 (04:41):
Well, and that's why we suggest having maintenance
inspections.
You move into your house, youknow, you've you've done your
real estate transaction, youmove in.
Two years later, give us a callto come back out.
Because let's face it, who wantsto go crawling around their call
space or you know, climbing upthrough their attic and not
wanting to go through the floorof the attic down into your

(05:03):
living room?
I mean, that's that that's whata home inspector is for.
They they know what to look for,it makes it so much nicer, and
then you get your honeydew list.

SPEAKER_01 (05:11):
Yep.
And if we did not do thatoriginal inspection of the
house, we could do it inspectionof any house.
We've done maintenanceinspection for things for the
state.
Yeah.
Some of the buildings they'veowned, historical connection,
historical connection, yep.
So we do not have to have donethe home and the building
inspection when they were buyingthe place.
It could be a maintenanceinspection as well.

(05:32):
But yeah, this is the time ofyear.
Get that checked out.
Yeah, get things checked out.
You might get sick.
I got sick.
Laura's not feeling great.
You got a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 (05:42):
I get I'm starting that cough that I always get
this time of year.

SPEAKER_01 (05:45):
But it's that time of year, so I'm not doing an
inspection tomorrow, but we dohave a backup inspector.

SPEAKER_02 (05:52):
Yep.

SPEAKER_01 (05:52):
Which in this case he's being the backup, but he
does a great job.

SPEAKER_02 (05:56):
Oh, yeah.
He's he's been with us thelongest now.

SPEAKER_01 (06:00):
But you need to take care of your house and expect
things to come across, and thenmake sure you have backups for
various things that can pop up.

SPEAKER_02 (06:07):
And we need to talk about um damming, ice damming at
some point, and explain that alittle bit better for people in
a next podcast.

SPEAKER_01 (06:16):
Well, we can hit we can hit that right now, real
quick.

SPEAKER_00 (06:18):
Habitation investigation is the way to go
for a home inspection in Ohio.
Trusted licensed home inspectorsfor your needs.
From radon to mold to warranty.
For a great home inspection, youreally can't go.

(06:39):
Visit home inspections inOhio.com.

SPEAKER_01 (06:44):
So ice damming, when you drive around this winter, or
maybe you remember from lastwinter, you'll see a ton of ice
build up on the lower edges ofthe roof, like just above the
gutters, maybe on top of thegutters.

SPEAKER_02 (06:59):
So make the really cool icles that drip down.

SPEAKER_01 (07:03):
They can also, the weight of that, will rip off
your gutters.
Because all the way anyway, thishappens.
It's a combination issue.
Not enough ventilation and notenough insulation, or some
combination of those two things.
So because what happens, theattic, because it's peaked, it's
warm at the top because warm airrises, so the snow on the roof

(07:26):
melts at the top, and it startsrunning down the roof toward the
gutter.
Well, as it goes down, the thatroof surface is a little bit
cooler because of ventilationand heat rising to the top, so
it refreezes.
Assuming your house is right atthat edge.
Right at that edge.
Yep.

(07:46):
So it will refreeze, and overtime that ice builds up.
So you got two days where itmelts and refreezes, does that
repeatedly?
That ice gets built up thickenough over near your gutter,
gutter edge, that the water rundown, it can't go continue down
because it's so built up andflat there that it runs back

(08:09):
towards your house underneaththe shingles and becomes a roof
leak.

SPEAKER_02 (08:15):
And you don't want that.

SPEAKER_01 (08:17):
No.
So what you should do, if you ifyou've had this in in the past,
get up in that attic, take apeek, make certain you have
ventilation, good ventilation inthat attic space.
It's amazing how many roofersthat we've seen, they put on a
new roof and they do theventilation wrong.

SPEAKER_02 (08:37):
Oh, yeah, it's it's crazy.
In fact, we've got a couple ofclients that we did roof
inspections for them after aroof install, and they've
actually contacted attorneysbecause ventilation wasn't done
right and they had a lot of moldin their house.

SPEAKER_01 (08:53):
Yes.
Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (08:54):
So, you know, be careful.
If you're doing a roof installand it's a new roof, tell them
you're gonna have a homeinspector come out and look at
the job before you give themthat final check.

SPEAKER_01 (09:03):
Yeah, the house you're talking about, the
lawsuit, the owner to theroofer, is they had ventilation.
They were way too small.
There's no there's no waythere's enough ventilation for
the and the amount ofcondensation and mold going up
there is evidence that it isjust not it's not working right.

(09:24):
Not at all, like it should.
So you can have have us comeout, take a look.
So you it could there could beno ventilation.
We've seen that no ventilation.

SPEAKER_02 (09:33):
Like on new builds, like this was like a one-owner
house, and the the builder neverput insulation in in his attic.
That was just within the pasttwo months we found that.

SPEAKER_01 (09:43):
Oh, yeah, I do remember that.
You remember that?
Yeah, I didn't do that inSpectra, but yeah.
So you could have not enoughventilation where the vents are
not big enough, or they shovedinsulation and they blocked the
vents, or the baffles areblocking the vents.
You can have that as well.

SPEAKER_02 (09:58):
Or do you remember the really nifty system that the
guy built with the pulley systemto open and close the
ventilation?

SPEAKER_01 (10:05):
Yeah, you all right, just because it's winter, you
should not your attic spaceshould always be vented.

SPEAKER_02 (10:12):
It should always breathe.

SPEAKER_01 (10:14):
Always vent it out.
I know you're thinking like, allright, let me close this.

SPEAKER_02 (10:18):
Let me close this up.

SPEAKER_01 (10:19):
Let me keep the heat up inside here.
And first theory, first levelthinking, that's a good idea.
Let's keep the heat in here.
No, no, because you're alsotrapping moisture, and that roof
surface is gonna be very coldduring the winter, especially at
night, and that's where you'regonna get all kinds of
condensation forming up there,which then leads to mold and
rot, and you totally screwed upyour roof system.

SPEAKER_02 (10:40):
So don't do that.

SPEAKER_01 (10:41):
Also, let it breathe.
Yeah, let it breathe.
Also, we've seen roofers, theywill add a ridge vent, but they
didn't add soffit vents.
They they they left the gablevents.
Gable vents and soffit vents arenot a good combination.

SPEAKER_02 (10:56):
You said gable and ridge vents are not a good
combination.

SPEAKER_01 (10:58):
Correct, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (10:59):
You you didn't say that.
You said gable and soffit arenot a good combination.

SPEAKER_01 (11:04):
Well, that would not be a good combination.
But usually what we're seeing isa ridge vent and they have the
gable vent.
No, the gable vents aren'taren't good.
You only got that one littlespace at that top of that
triangle, looking at the end ofthe building, end of the house.
It only goes that one littlespace up.
Good soft vents are on all theway on the underside of the
lower edge of the roof, and yougot pretty uniform air flowing

(11:28):
in, going up all the wayunderneath the roof surface, and
then going out through the top.
Gable vent kind of shortscircuits that good ventilation
type.
So it's so the type ofventilation you have works as
well.
I've also seen roofers put thethe ridge vent on top of the
roof, but then never cut the gapfor the air to actually flow out
through the root roof vent.

(11:48):
They just I don't know, theyjust lazy forgot.
There's no way you can forgetdoing that.

SPEAKER_02 (11:54):
I don't know.
I'm trying to be nice.
Well, we saw not even longenough.
Like, aren't ridge ventssupposed to be almost like a
foot from either end of thepeak?

SPEAKER_01 (12:03):
Yes, some of the manufacturers do recommend the
ridge vent be pretty almost thewhole entire length, like a foot
or so off the edge is is good.
Some of the builders are goingby, yeah, we we need just one
square foot of ventilation forevery 300 square feet of attic
floor space.
Not that is not a good standard.

(12:24):
I mean, it depends on the areayou're at, but here in Ohio,
that is not enough.
That is not enough.
One square foot for every 150 isbetter.
But I think it also changesbecause of the type of roof you
have.
If you have a gable vent, allright, you got two roof planes.
If you have a hipped roof, yougot four roof planes.
You got a lot more surface areato collect the heat.

(12:46):
And if your shingles get hotbecause lack of ventilation,
they'll get hotter, they'regonna age quicker.
And here you and you just lostthree to five years worth of use
of your uh roof.

SPEAKER_02 (12:57):
But on an up note, the roofing company gets another
job three to five years sooner.

SPEAKER_01 (13:03):
Possibly, but they should not.
No, they shouldn't.
That's why you should alwayshire a home inspector to take a
look at it.
Because we don't do repairs,we're unbiased.
Our our best benefit is to tellyou exactly what's going on with
the house, which is exactly in ahome buyer's best benefit.
Or a homeowner.
Or homeowner.
Believe it or not, if you're ahome buyer, some agents do not

(13:26):
recommend the most thorough homeinspectors.
So vet your real estate agentwell.
In fact, I recommend you contacta home inspector.
Go, hey, I have these threeagents I'm considering using.

SPEAKER_02 (13:38):
What do you know?

SPEAKER_01 (13:39):
Do you have anybody you would immediately strike off
your list?

SPEAKER_02 (13:44):
Or somebody you would immediately recommend?

SPEAKER_01 (13:46):
Yes, like that could be done as well.
So I'd recommend doing that.
That that will be the new thingfor home buyers is to ask a home
inspector who they recommend.

SPEAKER_02 (13:57):
We see it all.
We see the good, the bad, andthe ugly from buying and
selling, and we hear all thestories.
So your best bet is to call ahome inspector.

SPEAKER_01 (14:08):
Yep.
All right, I think that's aboutit.
Can you think of anything else,Laura?
I'm kind of done, my head'shurting.

SPEAKER_02 (14:14):
That's no, why don't you be done, baby?

SPEAKER_01 (14:16):
All right, I'm gonna go.
I'm gonna go actually I gottaupload this, edit if I need to,
and then I'm gonna go whimper onthe couch and watch TV, is what
I'm gonna do.

SPEAKER_02 (14:24):
You snuggle with your puppy and you go whimper.

SPEAKER_01 (14:26):
I am, I'm gonna snuggle with a dog, and that
will be it.
All right, thank you, everybody.
Bye.
All right, bye bye.