Essential Springtime Home Maintenance Tips

After a long, cold winter, spring arrives with a burst of warmth and enthusiasm. Nature begins to bud and soon develops into a riotous growth of plants and insects. And all things being equal, homeowners muster enthusiasm for tackling essential home maintenance projects.

Ignoring home maintenance can lead to costly repairs, reduced home value, safety hazards, and higher energy bills. Preventive care is always cheaper and easier than major repairs. Here are some quick tips to address the major areas of your home.

Exterior Maintenance

Roof and Gutters: Inspect your roof and remove leaves, branches, and debris to prevent moisture buildup and mold growth. For gutters, clean out leaves and other debris. To reduce future gutter cleaning, trim nearby branches to avoid clogging and buildup so that there will be fewer leaves to contend with next time. Better yet, consider installing gutter guards. Finally, verify that gutters extend at least 5-6 feet from your foundation to prevent excess moisture around it.

Foundation: Winter’s freeze/thaw cycles can cause significant damage to concrete foundations. Walk the perimeter to check for cracks, bulging or crumbling. Repair as necessary. Inspect and clean out debris in window wells. Both these tasks will extend the life of the foundation and keep out insects and other pesky critters.

Exterior Walls: Inspect exterior paint and caulking. Scrape off any flaking paint and sand any paint cracks, clean and apply primer, and touch up paint. Use a putty knife to remove any damaged caulk, clean out the gap, and reapply fresh caulk using an exterior-rated silicone or acrylic caulk.

Pressure Wash Surfaces: Pressure wash areas such as a back deck or patio, along with your driveway and sidewalks. Know how to use a pressure washer safely. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has a useful guide for safe use of pressure washers.

Yard and Garden

Lawn Equipment Tune-Up: Clean debris off the mower. Sharpen blades, change oil, replace spark plugs, and filters. Tune up any other motorized equipment. These maintenance steps can also be handled by businesses specializing in outdoor equipment or small-engine repair.

Landscaping: Rake leaves, trim shrubs, and prune trees. Apply pre-emergent weed control to prevent weeds before they sprout. Inspect sprinklers for leaks or clogs and adjust for proper coverage. Open the exterior water line and set up garden hoses.

Maintain Lawns and Trees: Your yard plays an important role in protecting your home. Clogged outdoor drains can cause water to pool at your foundation. Keep your trees trimmed; overgrown trees with branches close to your house can cause damage during storms.

Inside Your Home

Deep Spring Cleaning Inside: Spring is the perfect time to thoroughly clean windows, repair screens, shampoo carpets, dust off and clean ceiling fans, and other appliances inside your home. Search “deep spring cleaning” online, and you’ll find exhaustive lists of items to clean in your home.

HVAC System: Schedule a professional service to tune up your A/C before the onset of summer heat. Keep the base of your A/C clear of plants and debris to ensure more efficient air flow. Replace air filters monthly.

Test Smoke and CO Detectors: A helpful reminder to test your smoke and CO detectors is to check them each time the clock changes: once in the spring and again in the fall. Replace batteries and test units to ensure they’re working properly.

Check Attic and Basement: In the attic, look for signs of moisture, pests or insulation issues. If you have a slab foundation, check the exterior and interior walls for cracks, gaps, and uneven floors or walls. Consider hiring a professional to address concrete issues before they become major problems that can reduce your home’s value.

Flush Water Heater: Remove sediment buildup to extend the lifespan and efficiency of your water heater. This must be done carefully. Study online how-to videos or consider hiring a plumber to perform this task.

Clean Dryer Vent: Not all lint is captured in your dryer’s lint tray. Some of the lint makes its way into your dryer vent. Unscrew the exhaust hose from the exterior-facing wall and remove any lint from the metal hose and the outside vent. This will make your dryer run more efficiently and reduce fire hazard.

Check Your Sump Pump: If you have a sump pump, winter snow melt, severe spring/summer storms, and old equipment can cause it to fail. Test your sump pump quarterly by pouring water into the basin and watching for the pump to activate. You may also consider connecting your sump pump to a backup power source or installing an alarm in case your sump pump fails.

Garage Cleaning: Park the cars in the driveway and pull out all your yard maintenance machinery (mowers, tractor trailers, snowblowers, wheelbarrows, etc). Sweep the floor thoroughly to get out sand, salt, leaves, and other debris. Put all loose items back in cabinets or on shelves. Clean off your machinery and put it back in the garage with the out-of-season winter equipment in the rear and the in-season spring and summer equipment at the front of the garage to provide easy access for warm weather use. If you leave any fuel in gas tanks, consider adding gas stabilizer to prevent carburetor problems that lead to hard starting.

Garage Door: Finally, before you close up the garage, inspect the garage door weather stripping rubber pad at the bottom of your garage door. Replace it if there are tears and gaps in the pad (or have a garage door repair service replace it). This will help keep out bugs, insects, and snakes that can come into the garage from your lawn and ultimately end up in your house.

You’re Almost Done

One last thing: don’t forget to clean off the patio furniture, because you’ll be the one exhausted when all this is completed. Now it’s time to have a cool drink out on the back deck and congratulate yourself on a job well done!