Daylight saving time is upon us, and that means spring is here. After being subjected to cold temperatures, ice and snow, your home is probably in need of some attention to prepare it for the warm days ahead.
Here are a few suggestions to get you started on your spring maintenance, based on some of the issues I encounter when conducting a home inspection:
Inspect your outdoor faucets and the pipes leading to them.
If you didn’t winterize them last fall, the freezing temperatures may have caused the water remaining in the pipes to freeze, resulting in splits and damaging water leaks in your crawlspace or basement.
Inspect your gutters and downspouts.
Over the winter, leftover leaves and debris, coupled with the weight of ice and snow, can cause gutters and downspouts to sag, bend, and even detach from the house in spots, leaving you vulnerable to roof damage and foundation drainage issues.
Change the air filter in your HVAC System.
Ideally, air filters should be changed every month, but not everyone remembers to adhere to that schedule. It’s a habit worth forming though; your HVAC system will operate more efficiently, and dust, mold, and other allergens will be reduced, allowing you breathe easier!
Schedule an A/C unit tune up.
The best time to find out your A/C unit is running low on coolant is before the temperature reaches 90 degrees. Don’t wait until you need to turn the system on to make your appointment; you might be looking at a wait of several days or weeks if everyone else had the same idea.
Change the batteries in your smoke detectors and alarms.
A good rule of thumb is to replace the batteries in all the smoke detectors and alarms in your house the day you turn your clocks ahead, but since that’s already happened, let this serve as your reminder to replace them as soon as possible.
Inspect your deck for signs of deterioration.
The wooden components of your deck are susceptible to damage from ice and snow, as well as any chemicals used to melt it away. Leaves that fell and weren’t cleaned up can also pose a problem, as they will hold standing water on top of the deck planks and cause the wood to rot. An application of wood sealant is very helpful to protect your deck from this type of damage.
Repair cracks in the walkway/driveway.
When water finds its way into a small crack in your concrete, asphalt or aggregate driveway or walkway and freezes, that small crack can become a large crack very quickly if it isn’t repaired. Overzealous plowing and shoveling can also damage the surface of your walks and driveway.
Exercising a little extra care and a relatively small amount of maintenance now can save you a lot of expense later. Keeping your home in good condition isn’t too difficult when you do some simple maintenance on a regular basis. If you found this information helpful, I hope you’ll follow my blog for more useful home maintenance tips. And if you should discover an issue that requires an in-depth professional inspection of your roof, foundation or other component or system at your home, please don’t hesitate to contact me at sneadhomeinspections.com. Until next time!
