It is that time of year when we shovel, shovel keep on shoveling the snow.  If you are inside the city limits of Bend it is the homeowner’s responsibilty to remove the snow on walkways and sidewalks around the house.  It is the owners responsibility if someone slips and falls and is injured on your property.  This law goes into affect when we have 6 inches or more of snow.  Each homeowner had 24 hours to clear the walkways and sidewalks around their home (this includes fire hidrants as well).  The fine is $165 for anyone not complying.  This also includes clearing the berm that is created when the street is cleared.   At Home Fridays we try to make sure our home owners are in compliance with the ruling.  It can be hard to keep up with the snow and still be efficient when spending money for snow removal. 

It is that time of year and the snow is falling and not stopping.  We are at 14 inches in some parts of Bend and even more in Sunriver.   Weather forecast is calling for 7-20 inches through Christmas.  So we are keeping busy at Home Fridays.  Houses need to be watched, roofs checked and of course the constant lookout for ice damns.  Poor roof design, poor insulation and sometimes even exhaust fans can cause ice damns.   It is important to keep an eye on them and sometimes have the roofer up there to clear the freeze and give the melt a path off the roof (instead of back under the tiles and into the house).  Here is a link to an interesting article from The Bend Bulliten on the subject.   During this heavy snow period we schedule regular roof inspections to keep the ice issue to a minimum.  Nothing worse then water inside!!!