Home Maintenance Checklist: Spring Edition
Whether Spring is coming in like a lion or a lamb where you live, one thing remains true: it’s time to review your home maintenance checklist. It doesn’t matter if it was a long, hard winter or not. You’ll still find there’s plenty to do around your home as the seasons change. Here’s help.
Let’s start outside since it’s finally nice enough for you to enjoy being outdoors.
No, you don’t need to explore the wilds of Australia as the Maori tribesman might. Yet, the first step in meeting your home maintenance checklist need is touring your exterior. Take a close look at your foundation, windows, walls, and decks to determine the toll the winter season has had.
Winter is tough on roofs, and you may not see all that you need with both feet on the ground. If you don’t want to climb up there, you could also use binoculars to try and spot trouble. You’re looking for:
Surveying your exterior walls, pay close attention to the areas under eaves and near gutters. Any water stains in these areas would suggest your gutters aren’t running off adequately. Start the season off right by clearing out your gutters of any collected debris.
Around the entire exterior look also for any openings or damaged areas where carpenter ants or woodpeckers have been at work. Keep an eye out also for signs of birds’ nests or any other creatures burrowing into your exterior walls.
If you find cracked masonry on the exterior of your home, and it’s part of the foundation, you can’t just caulk it and hope for the best. You’re likely to need to hire a professional to restore your home to a solid footing for the coming months.
While you’re looking down, check your patio for any loose or damaged pavers. It’s also a good idea to sweep up decks and look for warped or loose planks. Inspect your driveway and any concrete or asphalt paths for cracking too as freezing and thawing can be rough on hardscaping materials.
Windows are for looking out and admiring your beautiful landscaping and watching kids at play, right? Well, this is the time of year when you also want to look in closely at the windows from the exterior.
Check for loose or worn weather stripping. If you don’t replace it, you could end up paying much more for cooling this summer than you expected.
Look also for any condensation captured between glazed windows. If you see moisture in double- or triple-glazed windows it means your weather seal has been compromised. For energy efficiency, you’ll want to get the glass or entire window replaced.
Spring is the time to clean up landscaping too. Go around the yard and collect fallen branches and leaves. Otherwise, your lawn will enter into the warmer weather months with barren patches.
Other great ways to get your house in shape for the nicer days ahead include:
Of course, the spring home maintenance doesn’t stop outside. You may want to do a general, all-over spring cleaning. This is a good time also to test all the fire and smoke detectors in the home and install new batteries. You’ll want to survey these other areas of your home as well.
If your home has an attic, climb up there to check for any indications that water is leaking in. It’s a good idea to go up on a sunny day. If you see sunlight streaking in, you can bet that some things you don’t want to see coming in could soon follow. The same is true of the crawlspace. Once you get in there, look for water leaks or other indications that the winter has damaged the foundation or walls.
In the basement, you’ll want to look for cracks, be sensitive to any excess dampness, and use a flashlight to scrutinize exposed wood framing. You don’t want to see any tunneling in the wood supporting your home. If you do, call pest control ASAP.
The furnace is getting ready for its off-season, and your air conditioning unit is on deck. It’s a good idea to:
Check your kitchen and bathroom and laundry room for any signs of leaky pipes or loose hoses. Any wetness underneath cabinets, around the dishwasher, or around the washer machine could spell trouble. Take a gander around your water heater too to make sure all pipes and hoses are properly sealed.
Aren’t you happy to be a homeowner? Yes, it takes work to get everything squared away again as Spring starts. You may have less to look after when you move into a new construction home. Nevertheless, this home maintenance checklist can help keep your forever home in top-notch condition, and set you up to enjoy a relaxing season of fun with family and friends.
