When you own a home, you often have to regularly maintain the interior and exterior of the home to ensure you’re keeping up with your home’s value. Most homeowners feel inspired to take on the house projects they’ve had planned during the sunny summer months, as the weather allows these projects to go on without any weather disruptions.
Let’s take a look at this summer’s home maintenance checklist.
Maintenance Tips For New Homeowners
If you are a first-time homebuyer, the entire prospect of moving into your home is pretty daunting. Between the cost of the house, to the act of moving your belongings, to making your new property your forever home, there is a lot that needs to be done.
Here is a checklist of tasks you should do during your settling-in process:
- Deep clean your home: Deep cleaning can be an exhaustive task, but it really turns your new home into a clean slate. The earlier into your moving process that you thoroughly clean, the more time you will have to really focus on making the home cozy;
- Replace HVAC filters: If your home already has any HVAC units or air filters, it’s likely that you have no idea when these filters were last changed. Since they should be changed every 30 to 60 days, it’s highly recommended that you replace them ASAP;
- Check that any alarms and locks function properly: The last thing you want is to move in all your valuable items only to discover that the locks or pre-existing security devices in your home are not working. Change the locks and install any cameras or security alarms that you wish. Don’t forget to check your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors;
- Locate the controls for water and electric: Knowing where and how to shut off water and electricity in case of emergency can be essential for your family’s safety. Typically, water valves are found outdoors near your home’s exterior, while electric panels are found in garages, basements, or closets;
Summer Home Maintenance
Each season will require its own kind of maintenance. To prepare for winter, for example, you’d want to ensure that your home is free of drafts and that your heating system is working efficiently. Summer, however, is a different story.
Most people will host various parties during the summer, whether it’s indoor or outdoor, so your home maintenance may end up focusing on preparing the backyard for summer fun.
Check That Sprinklers Are Functioning Correctly
During the winter (and even spring), your sprinklers could get damaged or clogged with debris. Summer is a great time to take a look at any of your sprinkler systems and ensure that the heads are working as they should. Replace any parts that are broken.
Make Your Home Insect-Proof
Mosquitos are without-a-doubt the worst part of summer, and the last thing you want to do while enjoying your summer is deal with pesky insects in general. You should check the exterior of your home to see if there are any entrances that bugs can enter in your windows and doors.
As for making the interior insect-proof, there are a few routes you can take. You can always go for chemical sprays and poisons. If you are into natural products, however, you can invest in citronella or use other natural pest deterrants.
Prepare the Pool for Swimming
If you are a pool owner, you should be quite familiar with your summer pool routine. If you find yourself abandoning your pool, trying making yourself a weekly list of tasks to a maintain the pool. The list should include pool skimming, adding helpful chemicals, and scrubbing the pool walls to prevent algae.
Other Home Maintenance Tasks
If you’re someone who does some deep spring cleaning, you may not have to focus too much on your interior. Otherwise, here are some things to do to your home’s interior, as well as even more exterior tasks:
- Freshen up your home’s exterior: If you have siding or brick, you should powerwash it to remove any dirt or debris that has built up over the months. If your home has exterior paint, you should repaint any chipped areas;
- Clean and inspect your garage and basement: Check that your basement is free of leaks or cracks, as well as checking that your garage door and door openers are functioning correctly;
- Inspect any children’s play equipment: Tighten and repaint any play equipment as necessary;
Final Thoughts
There’s a whole laundry-list of home maintenance that could be done during the summer, including replacing any doors and windows as necessary.
Although you may end up investing time or money into these projects, it will be worth it in the long run. Regularly maintaining your home will keep your home’s property value up for much longer, as well as giving you longer stretches of time without home issues.
Keep in mind that if you ever do have any issues with your HVAC units, that we would love to help you.