Hey, welcome to the U .S. The Pros Answer podcast. Your questions answered by the

pros you trust, presented by pro exteriors. Merry Christmas.

Today is December 12th. We're just a couple of weeks away from Christmas Day. It's

hard to believe. But that means that we're just a couple of weeks away from the

big guy, from Santa Claus, from Chris Kringle, coming and making a visit at your

home. Are you ready for it?

I want us all to make a commitment to make a space that is warm and welcoming to

the big guy and to his reindeer on Christmas Eve. Is your house ready for it?

Well, that is what we are here today to discuss. In fact, I want to replay a

conversation I had with Aaron Rogers this time last year, where we took a really

honest look and we had a discussion all about what we needed to do to make sure

that our house was ready for Santa and his reindeer. Let's take a look. This is

the You Ask the Pro's Answer podcast. Do you have questions about an upcoming

exterior contracting project? We've got answers. Welcome to the You Ask the Pros

Answer podcast.

If you are joining us for the very first time each week, we simply answer a

question that we have been asked by somebody like you. And so this week is no

different. Today is December 20th. We are mere four days away from Christmas Eve.

Aaron, my dad would call the day before Christmas Eve Christmas Adam because Adam,

then Eve, then Christmas Day. But we're four days away from when the big guy lands

on my roof. Yep. So the question that I'm going to ask you that we're going to

tackle is how do I prepare my house for Santa Claus and his eight, they say eight

tiny reindeer. I've never seen a tiny reindeer before. They're huge. I think they're

normal size reindeer. Yeah. Yeah, but I like the songs and the carols and that kind

of stuff. It always says, A Tiny Rain. Anyway, so let me start out by sharing this

quick little story. I can remember as a kid, Christmas Eve,

we would go to church service as a family, and then we would either go to my

grandparents or my cousin's house for like a Christmas Eve dinner. We always opened

one gift from my grandparents from Christmas Eve. It was one of those times where,

especially where I grew up, sometimes we would,

So I want to walk you through some scenarios. I just want to get your hot take on

what I ought to be doing between today, December 20th and December 24th to get my

house ready. All right. I'm a bit of a pack rat. What do I need to do when it

comes to the clutter on the outside of my house? Clear it.

Clear the clutter. All right. Satellite dish, gone? Do I need it?

Yeah, get rid of it. I haven't had a satellite dish in 15.

Loose shingles? Yeah, probably get them taken care of. Probably get them secured

down. All right. Now, my house is brand new. It's like six months old.

But for our listeners that are living in a house, it's a little bit older.

what about like

just kind of concaving into that area. So yeah, definitely, definitely before the big

guy shows up, you want to get that taken care of. All right. Yeah. So that's an

immediate need. I mentioned I don't have a chimney, but for our audience members who

do have chimneys, any suggestions on what to do to prepare? Yeah.

I mean, realistically, you want to make sure they're secure. The flashing's tight.

Everything's caulked, everything's nice and secure. And then, you know, if you haven't

had your, if you've got a real woodburning fireplace or chimney, you know, getting

it cleaned once a year before the big guy comes, it's, I think it's just common

courtesy. So he's not covered in soot. And then he's going to track into every

other house. And I mean, that's not good. So we've talked in previous episodes about

the importance of getting your roof inspected yearly. Would it be wise to kind of

do the chimney cleaning around the same time you think yeah i mean realistically

it's it's typically going to be two separate contractors you're going to have a guy

that's going to take care of the roof and the flashing and then you'll have another

guy that takes care of the chimney so like stuff like chimney sweeps are it's a

very very small niche there's only a handful of people in this area that really

really do that um so yeah so we as a company are not going to do that um in the

same way as the chimney suite company is not going to go in there

is super flammable. All right. For those of us without chimneys,

we all have boots or pipes with boots. What do you say about kind of maintaining

that? Should we be having that looked at it in case Santa's got to be coming down

one of those? Yeah. I mean, if you've ever seen the Santa Claus with Tim Allen, I

mean, he's pretty much going to, he's going to morph or kind of mold himself into

whatever he can fit in. So yeah, all those pipe boots, you want to make sure

they're nice and tight. if they're old

creating a welcoming atmosphere for the big guy but any other structural things that

ought to be checked no not so much i mean the the heavy hitters you know sagging

plywood the chimney the pipe boots you know things like skylights and things like

that all those things you know you want to make sure they're nice and tight i

don't know i guess it depends on if he gets you in the beginning of the night or

at the end of the night how heavy that sleigh is oh yeah okay so yeah well

speaking Speaking of the sleigh, you know, my family just took a trip and we flew

on an airplane. And so, you know, there's runway lights on the side that guide the

pilot. And so I'm wondering if you can make some suggestions on the best way to

light the outside of your house on Christmas Eve so that Santa can find his way

yeah i mean christmas lights are not just about being festive i think they're also

like you said they're kind of like runway lights to mark the house out um yeah so

making sure they're nice and secure without obviously causing damage to your roof or

to your siding um yeah they make those little plastic clips to kind of hold lights

in place but yeah i think if you uh if you have the availability to uh to light

your roof up accordingly to make sure he knows exactly where to land I think that's

ideal.

First, the first thing we'll say is if you do that, it voids your warranty right

away. Not only does it avoid your contractor's warranty, but it's going to avoid

your shingle manufacturer warranty. But essentially, depending on the shingle or the

staples that you use, you know, the staples could penetrate all the way through the

shingle. If they do that, then essentially you're putting, you know, tiny little

holes all over your roof. I have actually seen that happen a lot over the years

where people go up there and they, um

Yeah. So don't do that. So like you said, maybe stick to those plastic clips that

can go right on your Yeah, the plastic clips work really, really well for like

along the gutter line. They make some other ones that kind of like slide in between

your drip edge and your starter strip or they make some to kind of slide underneath

the drip edge. I mean, if you're one of those people that likes to keep your

lights up year round, no judgment here. But if you're going to do it like that or

if you're, you know, one of those people that like to put up lights for every

holiday or occasion. They do make some really nice, almost like a permanent bracket

that you can put up in place that makes it really, really easy to kind of, you

know, throw the lights up, take them back down whenever you don't want to have

them. And they're not so, like, visually obtrusive that you're going to hate having

them up there. All right. Now, the last thing my family does before we go to bed

on Christmas Eve is we put out some type of a snack for Santa. Sometimes even a

snack for the reindeer. Absolutely. What is your family's treat of choice that you

might recommend? So it varies. There's definitely chocolate chips. Chocolate chip

cookies are always kind of the the big one. We've done brownies in previous years.

Of course, we leave out a glass of milk. And then usually carrots, carrot sticks

and celery sticks for the reindeer. So, beef milk or almond milk or soy milk,

uh, moose milk, uh, cows, cows for sure. Beef milk. I heard somebody call it beef

milk. I don't. Yeah, I was just going to say that's a very odd, that's an odd

choice of beef milk. Okay. If somebody could drop that in the comments where that's

from it's from a tv show i know that for a fact uh parks and wreck one of the

later yeah that sounds accurate yeah it was that blogger lifestyle blogger she called

it beef milk and they're like got just cows milk hmm okay um so let me recap some

things make sure i have all this correct.

I need to clear the clutter. I need to make sure that shingles aren't loose. I

want to make sure that my decking on the roof is all secure, nothing's sagging,

nothing's waterlogged, moldy. Best way to do that, probably to call a professional.

It's getting colder in most parts of the country. Harder to walk around. It's really

rainy here today, so things are slick. So call a professional for that. If you have

a chimney, get it cleaned yearly, right? If you don't have a chimney,

we've all got pipes coming out of our roof. Make sure those pipe boots are good

and secure. And then don't put staples in your roof,

right? Bad call. And don't forget the snacks for the big guy, maybe throw out a

few carrots for Rudolph and his compatriots. All right.

Aaron, I've got a quick poem to read. It's a bit of a recap,

just kind of like what I just said, but maybe it'll help get us all in that

festive Christmas spirit. So maybe you have your own glass of eggnog or hot cocoa

or milk. Sit back and And

twas the night before Christmas and all through the house. Not a creature was

stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in

hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there. The children all nestled all snug in

their beds, while visions of sugarplums danced in their heads. And Mama in her

kerchief and I in my cap had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap.

When out on the lawn their arose,

little old driver so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than Eagles, his coursers they came, and he whistled and shouted and

called them by name. Now dasher, now dancer, now prancer and vixen, on Comet,

on Cupid, on Donner and Blitzen. To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall.

Now dash away, dash away, dash away, dash away, all. As dry leaves that before the

wild hurricane fly, when they meet with an obstacle mount to the sky, so up to the

house the coursers they flew with the sleigh full of toys in St. Nicholas too. And

then in a twinkling I heard on the roof, the prancing and pauling of each little

hoof, as I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight, Merry Christmas to all,

and to all a good night. But wait, there's more to this Christmas Eve tale,

for Santa's arrival requires some skill and some

hopes, and the chimney, my friends. That's a critical spot. Soot free and clear is

an absolute must I've got. A little bit wider for presents so grand,

and maybe a snack, a sweet Christmas hand, some milk and cookies, a carrot for

Dasher, a thank you to Santa, it couldn't be basher, a sturdy roof too, no leaks

in the night, for Santa and Rudolph to shine ever so bright. So gather your loved

ones and spread Christmas cheer.

Next year, season three will launch. And it's going to look a little bit different

than it has these last two years. So if you're not already following the show on

social media, please be sure to do so. That's where we will be posting updates and

where we will share what you can expect to see in season three. For everybody who

has been with us on this journey this year, thank you so much. If you have not

already done so, would you please Be sure to review the show on Apple Podcasts or

Spotify. If you're watching on YouTube, please be sure to like this video and

subscribe to the channel. That helps out a ton. Also, before we go,

what questions do you have related to exterior home remodeling? You can send those

questions directly to us at info at askproexteriors .com and place you ask in the

subject. If you are facing an upcoming home project or preparing to welcome Santa