Before the Leaves Fall: 10 Exterior Problems That Are About to Become Harder to See
Updated: Oct 4
The Midwest Homeowner Survival Guide: Summer → Fall — Part 2
Snow is nature's version of fresh paint. Everything looks great when you can't see what's underneath it.
Every fall in Illinois, our homes slowly begin disappearing.
First, the grass gets covered with leaves.
Then the landscaping starts dying back.
Daylight disappears sometime around lunch.
And eventually snow arrives and gives the entire property a beautiful white blanket that says:
"Don't worry about any of this until April."
Unfortunately, the problems underneath that blanket haven't gone anywhere.
That's why late summer and early fall are some of the best times to inspect the exterior of your home.
As a home inspector with Midwest Inspect, there's an important difference between preparing a house for winter and looking for defects before winter hides them.
That's what Part 2 of our Midwest Homeowner Survival Guide: Summer → Fall is all about.
We're not cleaning gutters or changing furnace filters today.
We're looking for the stuff that's already wrong.
Because fall doesn't just bring maintenance problems.
Fall hides existing ones.
Here are 10 exterior problems I'd look for while you can still see them.
1. 🧱 Foundation Cracks
Find Them Before the Snow Does
Walk around the exposed foundation of your house.
Look closely.
Small cracks in poured concrete foundations are common, and not every foundation crack means your house is preparing to split in half.
What matters is the type, size, location and whether there's evidence of movement or moisture.
Pay closer attention to:
horizontal cracking
stair-step cracks in masonry
cracks with displacement
widening cracks
bowing or leaning walls
water staining around cracks
Once leaves, snow and frozen ground arrive, these areas become much harder to evaluate.
Take photos now.
If you have an existing crack you're monitoring, put a ruler next to it and photograph it periodically from the same position.
That gives you something considerably more useful than:
"I think it got bigger."
Midwest Inspector Translation:
A crack isn't automatically a crisis.
But pretending it doesn't exist isn't a monitoring strategy.
2. 🧱 Deteriorated Mortar
Your Brickwork Is Talking
Illinois weather is brutal on masonry.
Rain gets into small openings.
Winter arrives.
The moisture freezes.
It expands.
Then it thaws.
Then freezes again.
Welcome to the Midwest Freeze-Thaw Championships.
Look closely at brick, block and stone for:
missing mortar
crumbling joints
loose masonry
open cracks
spalling
areas where water can enter
Minor mortar deterioration is much easier to address before several more winters help with the demolition.
Midwest Inspector Translation:
Your mortar should stay between the bricks.
When it's collecting on the ground underneath them, that's a clue.
3. 🏠 Damaged Siding
Inspect It Before Landscaping and Snow Hide the Bottom
Walk around the entire house.
Don't just look from 30 feet away.
Get closer.
Look for:
cracked vinyl siding
loose panels
missing pieces
wood rot
peeling paint
animal damage
woodpecker holes
gaps around penetrations
deteriorated lower edges
Pay particular attention near the bottom of walls and behind vegetation.
Those are exactly the areas that become difficult to see once leaves pile up.
Damaged siding isn't merely cosmetic.
Openings can allow moisture, insects and animals into the building envelope.
Midwest Inspector Translation:
Woodpeckers don't understand property boundaries.
4. 💧 Poor Grading
Before Leaves Make Your Yard Look Level
One of the first things I look at during an exterior home inspection is grading.
Why?
Because water is undefeated.
Ideally, the ground around your home should direct surface water away from the foundation.
Look for:
low areas near the house
soil sloping toward the foundation
erosion
depressions under downspouts
standing water after rain
Here's a good late-summer experiment:
Wait for a heavy rain and walk around the property.
Yes, you'll get wet.
But you'll also see exactly where the water is going.
Once the yard is covered with leaves—and eventually snow—drainage patterns become much harder to see.
Midwest Inspector Translation:
Your yard should send water away from the house.
It should not be a funnel with your basement at the bottom.
5. 🪵 Deck Footings & Structural Connections
Look Under the Deck Before Nobody Wants to Go Under There
Everyone notices deck boards.
Home inspectors look underneath.
Now is the perfect time to check:
footings
posts
beams
joists
ledger connections
joist hangers
fasteners
stair connections
signs of wood deterioration
Look for:
rot
loose hardware
improper connections
corrosion
movement
posts contacting soil
deteriorated framing
A deck can look beautiful from above while having significant problems underneath.
Then fall arrives.
Leaves collect.
Snow follows.
And suddenly nobody is crawling underneath the deck until April.
Midwest Inspector Translation:
The expensive part of the deck usually isn't the part holding your patio furniture.
It's the stuff underneath holding you.
6. 🏠 Roof Flashing
The Small Metal Pieces With a Very Big Job
Homeowners naturally look at shingles.
Inspectors also look closely at the places where roofs change direction or meet other components.
That's where flashing becomes important.
Common areas include:
chimneys
roof-to-wall intersections
valleys
plumbing vents
skylights
dormers
Missing, damaged or improperly installed flashing can allow water into the structure even when the shingles themselves look fine.
And once snow and ice cover the roof?
Good luck seeing much of anything.
Midwest Inspector Translation:
Sometimes the difference between a dry attic and a wet ceiling is a surprisingly small piece of metal.
7. 🧱 Chimney Deterioration
Please Look Up
Chimneys live a rough life.
They're exposed to:
Rain.
Snow.
Wind.
Heat.
Cold.
Freeze-thaw cycles.
And they're located in the exact place most homeowners rarely inspect.
Look for:
cracked chimney crowns
deteriorated mortar
loose or spalling bricks
missing rain caps
damaged flashing
leaning or movement
Water intrusion at chimneys can cause extensive deterioration over time.
The chimney crown is especially important because it's designed to help shed water away from the masonry below.
Midwest Inspector Translation:
If pieces of your chimney are starting to appear on the roof...
The chimney is attempting to communicate.
8. 🚗 Cracked & Spalling Concrete
Winter Hasn't Even Started Yet
Your driveway survived another summer.
Now comes the real test.
Look at:
driveways
sidewalks
patios
porches
exterior steps
Check for:
cracks
settlement
spalling
heaving
trip hazards
deteriorated edges
drainage toward the home
Why inspect concrete now?
Because water gets into cracks.
Then winter arrives.
The water freezes and expands.
The crack gets larger.
Then it thaws.
Then freezes again.
Illinois repeats this process until your driveway begins resembling a map of major interstate highways.
Midwest Inspector Translation:
That little crack would like to spend winter becoming a bigger crack.
Don't encourage it.
9. 🚰 Exterior Faucets
The $100 Problem That Can Become a Very Expensive Surprise
Exterior hose bibs are easy to forget.
Especially once summer gardening ends.
Before freezing temperatures arrive:
disconnect garden hoses
inspect for leaks
check damaged fittings
verify proper operation
winterize components when required for your installation
Leaving a hose connected can trap water where you don't want it.
Then temperatures drop below freezing.
Water freezes.
It expands.
And suddenly a cheap maintenance item becomes a burst pipe hidden inside the wall.
You may not discover the problem until everything thaws.
At which point your house may helpfully demonstrate where the pipe broke.
Midwest Inspector Translation:
Disconnect the hose.
Your future self thanks you.
10. 🌳 Tree Hazards
Inspect the Trees Before They Inspect Your Roof
Late summer and early fall are excellent times to look up.
Check trees around your home for:
dead limbs
broken branches
hanging limbs
branches over roofs
limbs rubbing siding
branches contacting electrical service lines
visibly declining trees
Dead hanging branches are sometimes called widow makers for a reason.
Then winter adds:
❄️ Snow load
🧊 Ice
💨 Wind
A branch that survived summer may not survive January.
And unfortunately, gravity has an excellent success rate.
Large trees, questionable limbs and anything near electrical service conductors should be evaluated and handled by the appropriate qualified professional.
Midwest Inspector Translation:
Trees provide wonderful shade.
They make terrible roof accessories.
🍂 Here's What Most Homeowners Don't Realize About Fall
We talk constantly about fall maintenance.
Clean the gutters.
Change the furnace filter.
Disconnect the hoses.
Rake the leaves.
All good advice.
But there's another reason to inspect your home now:
Fall hides defects.
Leaves cover:
foundation cracks
grading problems
deck footings
drainage areas
damaged concrete
Snow covers even more.
And shorter days mean homeowners simply spend less time walking around outside looking at their property.
A defect that was clearly visible in September can completely disappear by December.
Out of sight doesn't mean repaired.
It just means you're probably discovering it again in spring.
📸 Here's One Trick I Recommend to Homeowners
Take pictures.
Seriously.
Once a year, walk around your home and photograph:
each side of the house
foundation walls
roof areas visible from the ground
driveway
sidewalks
deck
chimney
major trees
grading and drainage areas
You're essentially creating a simple visual history of your property.
Next year, compare the photos.
Did that crack grow?
Did the driveway settle?
Was that siding already damaged?
Has that tree started leaning?
Homes change slowly.
Photos make slow changes much easier to recognize.
🏡 Thinking About Selling Next Spring? Do This Now.
Realtors and homeowners should pay particular attention here.
If you're considering listing your home next spring, don't wait until spring to discover exterior problems.
Why?
Because winter makes exterior repairs harder.
Contractors get busy.
Weather delays projects.
Some repairs can't be completed properly during freezing conditions.
And suddenly you're trying to prepare a house for listing while also dealing with everything winter uncovered.
Identifying problems in late summer or fall gives sellers time to:
get estimates
prioritize repairs
address maintenance
plan financially
avoid surprises during the buyer's inspection
That's considerably less stressful than discovering everything after you've already accepted an offer.
The 20-Minute Challenge
Before the leaves really start falling, give your house 20 minutes.
Walk around it slowly.
Don't mow.
Don't pull weeds.
Don't answer emails.
Just look at the house.
Look:
Up.
Down.
Behind things.
Under things.
Pay attention to what's changed.
Because your house is constantly giving you information.
Most homeowners simply aren't looking until something breaks.
Final Thoughts
Winter doesn't create every problem we discover in spring.
Sometimes winter simply makes an existing problem worse.
That foundation crack?
Already there.
The deteriorated mortar?
Already there.
The loose deck connection?
Already there.
The dead branch?
Definitely already there.
Fall gives Illinois homeowners a short opportunity to find these problems while they're still visible and while there's still time to do something about them.
Because pretty soon the leaves will fall.
Then the temperatures will drop.
Then the snow will arrive.
And suddenly...
Everything looks perfect.
Snow is nature's version of fresh paint.
It doesn't fix anything.
It just makes it harder to see what's underneath.
Up Next — Part 3 of The Midwest Homeowner Survival Guide: Summer → Fall
Your Basement Remembers Every Summer Storm
We'll head inside and look for the moisture clues summer left behind—from foundation seepage and musty odors to sump pumps, efflorescence, humidity and those mysterious basement stains homeowners keep hoping will disappear on their own.
Inspect Today. Protect Tomorrow.
— Sean Evans, CPI
Founder of Midwest Inspect
Serving Northern Illinois with professional home inspections designed to help buyers, sellers, and homeowners make informed decisions.
Schedule your inspection today at MidwestInspect.com
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