Spring Home Maintenance Tips

Spring is just around the corner. With spring just around the bend it’s time to get ready for some after winter home maintenance. The following is a list of simple and easy to do tips to help keep and maintain your home for perfect operating condition.

Indoor Maintenance Tips

• Check your air conditioning system. If your AC doesn’t work during the first hot day you try to use it, you’ll most likely have a very long and hot wait before a repair man can fix it. You’ll be cranky from it being so hot out and the repair man will likely be just as cranky if not more.
• Inspect or replace your HVAC filter monthly.
• The clothes dryer vent and stove hood should be regularly checked and cleaned.
• It’s likely that you have a coil-back refrigerator. Be sure to vacuum the coils at least twice each year. Clean coils help your refrigerator to run more efficiently.
• Use non-toxic soaps and cleaners to clean everything from top to bottom.

Outdoor Maintenance for High Up Places

Drink plenty of water, wear appropriate sun and bug protection and put on some music you’ll enjoy listening to.

• Check your roof for damaged, loose or blistered shingles. Any and all damaged shingles should be replaced if they take up less tha
20% of your roof. If the damage covers more tha
20% of your roof, it’s best to simply reroof it.
• Flashing around chimneys, vents, and roof edges should be thoroughly examined.
• Any and all debris from gutters and downspouts should be removed and cleaned. Any holes found should be patched. Downspouts should also direct water at least 5 feet away from the foundation of your walls.
• Branches and shrubs that are touching your home should be trimmed down since they can provide a pathway for bugs and even excess moisture to enter your home.
• Dead branches might fall on your home. They should be removed right away.

Outdoor Maintenance for Low Down Places

• Any and all branches, limbs and other debris that have fallen around the home should be removed to discourage the production of wood-eating insects.
• Basement window wells should be thoroughly cleaned out.
• Caulking on windows, doors and other penetrations like dryer vents and cable wire holes should be thoroughly inspected and or replaced. Improper caulking allows moisture to penetrate into your walls and cause mold.
• Inspect any and all exterior surfaces. Touch up any areas that might need fresh paint before they become any worse. Bricks and concrete blocks should be inspected for cracked mortar or loose joints.
• Lawn sprinkler heads should not spray the walls of your house.
• Inspect inside and outside foundation walls and piers for any signs of termite tubes and damaged wood.