Chicago Landlord Exterior Maintenance Checklist (Printable)

Roof and parapet

• Walk the roof or look at it from the next building, from a ladder, or with a camera pole. Do not walk a roof you cannot walk safely.
• Ponding water, blisters, cracks or open seams in the membrane.
• Flashing at walls, chimneys, vents and skylights: loose, lifted or missing.
• Parapet caps and copings: cracked, loose or with open joints. Caps with many mortar joints are the most exposed spot on the building (BIA guidance).
• Gutters and scuppers clear of debris, with no sagging sections.
• Ceiling stains or damp spots on the top floor, which often point to the roof.

Brick and mortar

• Mortar joints that are open, sandy or crumbling. The code lists masonry joints that are not weather resistant or water tight as an unsafe condition (Title 14X).
• Brick with flaking or peeling faces, called spalling. Saturated brick that freezes can spall, and salts crystallizing inside brick can do the same (BIA guidance).
• White powdery deposits (efflorescence). It is usually not harmful on its own, but if it appears after the building's first year it often points to water getting in (BIA guidance).
• Cornices, trim, belt courses and corbels that are loose or shifted.
• Cracks above windows and doors, where lintels sit.
• Bulges, leaning sections or stair-step cracks in a wall. These are not DIY items.

Porches, stairs and railings

• Posts, stringers and joists: probe with a screwdriver at the bottom and where wood meets masonry. Soft wood is a finding.
• Guards and handrails: tug them. They should not move. Chicago requires exterior stairs, decks, porches and balconies to be structurally sound, in good repair and properly anchored (Title 14X).
• Rust, loose bolts or a pulling-away connection at the building wall.
• Steps with uneven treads, missing pickets or rotted boards.
• Fire escapes and exposed metal balconies. The code includes periodic professional examination for some exposed metal structures, so check with the Department of Buildings whether yours is covered (City of Chicago).

Concrete and ground level

• Front steps and walks: cracks, settling, and surface flaking (scaling). Scaling comes from freeze-thaw exposure, and deicers make it worse (NRMCA).
• Deicer use: sand on new concrete in its first winter, and moderate amounts after. Magnesium-based salts and ammonium-based products are the ones to avoid (NRMCA).
• Trip edges where slabs have lifted or sunk.
• Areaway and basement window wells: drains clear, walls sound.

Water and drainage

• Downspouts: connected, not rusted through, and discharging well away from the wall. University of Minnesota Extension suggests at least 4 feet from the foundation, with soil sloping away at least 1 inch per foot for at least 6 feet (U of M Extension).
• Grade at the foundation: soil settled toward the building.
• Wet spots, stains or efflorescence near the base of the wall.

Occupants and the paperwork side

• Ask tenants what they have noticed: leaks, drafts, loose steps, a porch that moves. Inspections of occupied buildings are largely complaint-driven, so what a tenant sees is often what the City hears about (City of Chicago).
• Photograph every elevation and every finding, with the date.
• Keep last year's list and photos so you can see what changed.

What to do with what you find

Sort every finding into three piles.

1. Safety now. Anything a person can fall through or off, plus anything that is falling off the building. Fix or barricade this week and get a licensed contractor out.
2. Water in. Open joints, failing flashing, bad downspouts. Book the repair before the next freeze. Our guide to fall repairs before Chicago freezes helps you time it.
3. Watch list. Cosmetic issues and early wear. Photograph, date and recheck next year.

Before you hire anyone, find out if the repair needs a permit. Chicago requires one before most repair work, with a limited exemption list (City of Chicago), and roof repair limited to 25 percent of the roof area is permit-free only if no part of an exterior wall or roof is cut away (City of Chicago). Porch maintenance such as painting needs no permit, but structural repair always does (Department of Buildings). Confirm current rules with the Department of Buildings.

Use the list from this year to build next year's reserve. Our post on the two-flat exterior repair budget shows how to turn findings into staged work, and what to check after winter is the spring version of this walk. Want a second set of eyes? Contact Akats for a look at your building, or read the Chicago building maintenance calendar.