The weather in Scotland can be brutal with heavy downpours coming throughout the year.

And with so many historic buildings across not just the two largest cities in the country but across the country, taking measures to protect your building and the stonework from heavy rain is incredibly important as part of effective building maintenance.

And that is why we have put together a list of some top tips to consider implementing to help protect your building from the effects of heavy rain. Some of the tips involve simply paying attention to try and spot issues early. Others are measures to help minimise the potential damage that a heavy downpour can cause.

1 – Building Foundations

Heavy rain can soften the soil around your property but excess water will also penetrate any cracks in the foundations of your home that may already be there. In sandstone, this can create more significant issues when the winter weather freezes, thaws and then re-freezes the water. Try to look for any new cracks or holes in the stonework of your property. And if there are existing cracks that seem bigger, these should be repaired sooner rather than later.

2 – Paintwork (Internal & External)

Heavy rain can find access to your home through cracks and holes you probably didn’t even know existed. And so many of these water leaks can cause mould, discolouration or even paint peeling of an interior with little evidence as to where the water is coming in from. Have a look around the surrounding exterior of your home looking for any tell tale signs such as paint bubbling and peeling on exterior walls. Damp patches etc.

3 – Gutters

If we have said it once, we have said it a thousand times. Keeping your gutters clean is one of the easiest and cost effective ways of preventing serious damage to your home when heavy rain falls. You should ideally be looking to clean your gutters twice a year. Once in spring to clear away all of the winter muck that has built up and once in late Autumn to make sure that any fallen leaves, moss growth during the summer etc has not cause blockages.

Blocked gutters can easily cause rain water to flow over and into your home. Keep them cleaned.

4 – Roofing

If you can see slates that have fallen from the roof then you have a vulnerable spot that rain water can access. Missing or worn out roofing slates and tiles can allow water to seep into your home and damage he stonework and your personal belongings. You can request a roofing survey to inspect the condition of your homes roof from a professional roofing contractor such as ourselves.

5 – Maintain and inspect the windows and stonework pointing

Window frames sealant perishes over time and stonework pointing can deteriorate. Both of which create opportunities for heavy rain to access your home. While they may start off as minor issues, most of the time, by the time that they become a noticeable BIG issue, it is a lot harder to fix and more expensive to fix.

Be aware and keep your eyes open.

It doesn’t take a lot of work to keep on top of your homes building maintenance. Knowing the weak spots before heavy rain hits and monitoring them (safely) during a rainstorm and afterwards can save you thousands of ponds in repair bills if you catch an issue early.

At Balmore Specialist Contractors, we are one of the leading Roofing and Building Maintenance Contractors in Scotland. Based in Glasgow, with an Edinburgh Office for East Coast customers, we have been serving residential customers and commercial businesses alike for over 35 years.

We utilise the latest in equipment including aerial drones for roof surveys and inspections to ‘at height’ specialist rope access equipment so that we can access and repair all areas of a building, regardless of how difficult they are to access.

It is little wonder that after more than thirty five years of roofing and building maintenance across Glasgow, we have become the go to contractor for our customers in both domestic and industrial sectors who look for the very best in roof repairs and building restoration.