Making Weatherproofing and Safety Improvements to Your Home in the Autumn and Spring with Sylglas^™ DIY Products

With the ever-growing risk of extreme weather these days, it’s even more important to annually check that your home is as completely water and weatherproof as you can make it, before the winter arrives. It also makes good sense to check everything again the following spring so that you can repair any new damage that might have occurred during the winter period.

Although this seems like a never ending battle with the elements to protect your property, if the cycle is repeated every year, it should minimise the amount of repair work that has to be done each time. This not only applies to weatherproofing but also to slippery walking areas in and around the house and garden that suddenly become more dangerous in the winter caused by frost and ice, wet surfaces, and added low visibility.

Sylglas^™ DIY products are not intended to be a replacement for the long-term professional maintenance to roofs and buildings – work which should always be carried out by skilled tradespeople. However, our products can give very effective ‘temporary’ fixes to problems and can often go on working for a long time when they are applied correctly.

About Using Sylglas DIY Products:

If you are comfortable doing the odd DIY job around and about your home then you should find that Sylglas products are quite simple to use. Always follow the Sylglas application instructions that come with the products because this will ensure that you’ll get good lasting results.

However, if you are unsure about your DIY skills and do not feel confident about applying DIY products in general, then it is always best to get a professional tradesperson to do the work for you. Sometimes a local window cleaner might do this type of work so it is always worth asking if you know of a reliable one. This can be particularly useful if you are not comfortable with climbing ladders or working at height.

Adequate Surface Preparation:

Please remember that no normal self-adhesive product will stick to wet, dirty/greasy or crumbly/flakey/mossy surfaces, so a good cleaning, brushing and drying of all relevant surfaces is essential to ensure that you achieve the longest lasting repair. Better surface preparation always leads to better results.

Choosing The Right Time:

Working outside in the autumn/winter is always a challenge as the weather and temperatures can be unpredictable and change very quickly. A dry day is essential for this type of work but you can make things a little easier for yourself in cold weather by keeping Sylglas products at room temperature indoors right up to their time for use. This will make them more flexible and easier to apply when you actually need them.

2. Checking conservatories, home extensions, porches, window frames & sills, greenhouses, sheds, garages, cold frames, caravans and mobile homes, and more:

These repairs can be done during any dry period in the autumn. Leaking glazing bars on conservatories and extensions can be sealed with Sylglas^™ Original Waterproofing Tape which can also be used to seal leaking window frames and sills.

For repairing roof to vertical wall (flashing) joints, Sylglas^™ Flashing Tape is available. It’s a self-adhesive tape with a heavy duty, lead-like foil finish that is useful for sealing roof to wall joints on structures such as porches, conservatories and around chimneys. As this tape product is self-adhesive, it doesn’t need chasing into the vertical wall and sealing with cement, which you would always need to do with conventional aluminium or lead flashings. A good degree of surface preparation is essential with this product to ensure good adhesion to the various surfaces it will need to bond to.

Sealing a vertical chimney wall to roof joint with Sylglas Flashing Tape.

4. Decking, steps and paths:

Dangerous, slippery areas on decking, patios, paths and steps can be made a lot safer by applying strips of Sylglas^™ Anti-Slip Tape – particularly on the edges and treads of the steps as well as on sloping areas. This self-adhesive tape is available in black, yellow, clear and hazard (yellow and black striped) versions. The hazard striped version is particularly useful for visually highlighting places where edges and sudden drops occur. Once applied to a clean, dry and even surface, the tape should reduce the risk of slipping accidents and is particularly useful where the elderly or children are likely to be moving around.

Sylglas ‘Hazard‘ Anti-Slip Tape gives the same anti-slip protection but has the added advantage of being highly visible.

Although it can be difficult to find the motivation to do this DIY maintenance work each year, once it’s complete, you can relax in the knowledge that you have done everything that you can do before the winter sets in. Our range of products are designed to make their application as easy as possible but at the same time providing effective weatherproofing and safety solutions.