Spring Home Maintenance Checklist
Spring is in the air for much of the United States, the weather is beginning to warm up and the cold days of winter are giving way to the warm days of spring. While spring brings new life to the world it also brings a host of challenges for our homes, including storms, floods, and pests. Follow this checklist this spring season to keep your home in top shape and to be ready for whatever mother nature throws your way.
Early Spring
Clean and repair gutters and downspouts if needed
Remove debris such as leaves, sticks, and muck from the gutters and downspouts. Check them for secureness.
Dust light fixtures and clean furniture
Start your spring cleaning by dusting light fixtures, and cleaning your furniture.
Have the septic system (if present) inspected and pumped if needed
If its been three or more years since your last septic system inspection and cleaning it's time to schedule and inspection and cleaning
Inspect roof, siding, and chimney (if present) for damage
Inspect exterior walls from the ground for loose, damaged, or missing shingles and siding. Perform a visual inspection of your roof from the ground and look for loose and missing shingles and flashings. If you have a chimney and it is masonry look for loose mortar, loose bricks or stones, and spalling.
Clean dryer vent
If it's been a year since your dryer vent was cleaned, now is a great time to get your vent cleaned. Vents can become fire hazards if too much lint builds up in them.
Inspect your sump pump
Early spring is a great time to inspect your sump pump. After inspecting yours consider getting a backup pump if you don't have one, that way you have an extra in case yours goes out in a bad rain storm later in the spring.
Schedule exterior jobs
Looking to get some exterior work done on your home? Early spring is a great time to select a contractor for te work.
Mid and Late Spring
Fertilize lawn
After your lawn has greened up consider applying a slow release fertilizer to help feed your lawn through the coming summer
Turn on water to outdoor spigots and in-ground irrigation system (if present)
Once the threat of frosts has passed and the foliage begins to green turn on your outdoor water spigots and irrigation systems and reconnect your hoses.
Refinish deck if needed (if present)
If you have a traditional wooden deck now is a great time to perform any minor repairs and refinish the deck for the upcoming summer. If you have a composite deck a simple cleaning will work.
Sweep driveway, walks, and deck or patio (if present)
Give your outdoor hard surfaces a quick clean by sweeping them clean
Uncover outdoor air conditioning unit (if present)
If you covered the air conditioning condenser for the winter, be sure to uncover it before the heat of the summer arrives.
Set up your outdoor space
Get your outdoor space set up for the season, uncover any furniture, set up your pots, set up your grill, and set up that umbrella.
Test all smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
Test all the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in your home, replace the batteries or unit if needed.
Inspect and test air conditioning
Before the heat of the summer arrives, give your air conditioning a test and make sure it turns on and delivers cold air. Also check the filter on your air conditioning system. If you have a combined furnace and air conditioning system this will be the same as your furnace filter.
Clean windows
Give your windows a spring clean to let the sunlight in from those longer days
Replace storm windows with screens
The warm weather beckons open windows, replace the winter storm windows with screens to let the spring breezes in.
Wash Siding
If needed, now is a good time to wash the exterior of your house so it looks its best for the upcoming summer
Complete any interior work that needs open windows
By late spring the weather is usually comfortably warm, now is a great time to do interior work that needs or is done better with open windows such as carpet cleaning and interior painting.