What’s in your attic? For most of us, the answer is probably, “A lot of junk.” There may be some old family photographs or useful artifacts up there, but generally speaking, it’s easy to haul something up to the top of your house and then stop thinking about it for awhile. In the classic novel Jane Eyre, Mr. Rochester kept his mentally ill wife locked in the attic, but unless you’re a character in that book, attic wives are probably not going to be an issue. While we’re talking about the upper levels of your house, how’s the roof doing? Again, it’s easy not to think about the roof unless you have to clean out the gutters. But there’s still important stuff up there, and if something goes wrong, it needs to be dealt with as soon as possible.
Cleaning your attic
The mere phrase “cleaning your attic” sounds confusing to a lot of people. They’ll say something like, “Why would I want to clean my attic when that’s where I keep all the extra stuff I’ve accumulated?” But the attic is a part of your house, and that means you don’t want to neglect it. If you do, you risk finding out that there’s more than just old photo albums and clothes up there. Creatures can easily sneak into your attic and go wild. Everything from a racoon to a team of rats could get up there and cause problems. You may not be able to hear or see the animals, but you’ll probably see rat feces or something the next time you head upstairs. Animal feces of any kind in your house is not a pleasant sight. It’s acceptable in your cat’s litter box, but that’s about it, and cat owners at least scoop the litter and dispose of it properly. We can clean up after our pet cats, but most of us lack the skills and equipment to clean up after rodents. Luckily, there are companies like Atticare of San Francisco that are trained to do exactly that. They’ll both clean up the mess and take measures to ensure that those sneaky little rodents can’t get back into your attic. Your attic should be a place to go when you’re feeling nostalgic and want to look through your high school yearbook. It should not be an unsanitary den of horrors.
Maintaining your roof
Roofs seem pretty basic, right? If you have one, that’s good. If you don’t have one, that’s not good. However, some kinds of roofs are easier to maintain than others. We may not spend a lot of time thinking about residential metal roofing, at least not unless we’re related to a roofer, but it turns out metal roofing is actually quite durable. It also has a significant amount of aesthetic appeal. A roof is one of the most visible parts of your home, so you don’t want it to look ragged or cheap. If you’re having issues with your current roof, start doing some research into a metal alternative. They’re both high-quality and low-maintenance, and that’s a combination that’s practically irresistible to homeowners.
