Homeownership can be a gratifying experience. However, an essential element of being a homeowner is making sure you’re proactive when it comes to your home’s maintenance and routine repairs.
Property maintenance is an important but at times neglected part of homeownership, and it’s easy for time to slip by before handling the needed seasonal maintenance, but we’re here to help.
In keeping our mission to make life safer and easier, we’ve compiled a year-round home maintenance checklist to help you get organized every season.
If there’s a specific season you’re interested in, click below:
Home Safety & Security Maintenance
First things first, home safety is an often overlooked aspect of routine home maintenance in the summer. Keep your household safe and sound year-round by checking, testing, and restocking everything related to your home’s security and emergency preparedness.
Check everything inside.
This includes smoke alarms, CO detectors, fire extinguishers, outlets, and anything else safety-related inside your home.
Check everything outside.
This includes outdoor security system components such as security cameras, door locks, and outdoor lighting. If anything isn’t working – inside or out – replace it yourself or call an expert.
Make sure you’re ready for an emergency.
Is your family prepared in case of an emergency? The summer is a great time to freshen up your emergency preparedness plan by:
- Reviewing your agreed-upon family meeting place in an emergency.
- Updating your emergency contacts.
- Checking and restocking your disaster supply kit.
- Making plans for any sort of natural disaster that may be likely to hit your area, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes.
Being prepared will help you, your household, and your home stay safe should the worst happen.
Winter Home Maintenance Checklist
Indoor Winter Home Maintenance Tips
Our winter home maintenance checklist is primarily focused on preparing your home for frigid temperatures and major winter storms while ensuring you stay safe and warm. Winterizing a house isn’t overly complicated, so your home will be ready to take on the cold with a few simple tasks. Here are our cold weather tips and winter checklist for your home.
Create or restock a winter home survival kit.
This should include sleeping bags and blankets, flashlights, lanterns and extra batteries, a solar-powered or battery-operated radio, a portable charger for your phone, extra food and water, extra medicine and first aid supplies, baby supplies if needed, and a fire extinguisher and smoke detector.
Put out floor mats and/or shoe drying racks near primary entrances.
Snow, ice, mud, and salt can do a number on your floors, so keep them protected by removing dirty or wet shoes right as you walk into your home.
Clean your dryer vents.
This will help prevent fires and is especially important if you use your dryer more often in the winter. This is an easy task that can be done with a vacuum cleaner hose or with a dryer vent cleaning kit that comes with brushes and other tools you’ll need.
Prepare for winter storms.
Inspect your generator if you have one to ensure it is fully and safely operating. Make sure you have snow shovels, gloves, and window scrapers and that they are in good condition. Purchase some ice melt to have on hand if you live in an area prone to severe winter storms.
Outdoor Winter Home Maintenance Tips
You likely began winterizing your home in the fall, so winter home maintenance outdoors should be simple. This means you won’t have to spend much time in the cold taking care of your home!
Put away seasonal lawn tools and equipment.
Tuck away yard tools and equipment, and replace them with your snow shovel or snow blower. This will ensure you’re organized and ready whenever a winter storm hits. You may also want to cover or put away outdoor furniture to keep it protected from the elements.
Clean out the gutters.
Once all the leaves are off the trees, clean out your gutters again so rain and melted snow and ice can freely flow off your roof all winter long.
Spring Home Maintenance Checklist
Indoor Spring Home Maintenance Tips
Once spring arrives, your indoors shouldn’t need too much maintenance and upkeep. Here’s our short spring home maintenance checklist.
Schedule an HVAC tune-up.
Yes, it’s that time again! Reach out to your favorite heating and air professional and have them inspect your air conditioner to make sure it’s ready to take on the hot summer days.
Take care of general cleaning and purging.
Spring cleaning is common for a reason. After spending all winter indoors and getting through the major holiday seasons, it’s a good time to tidy up. Put away winter coats and other winter gear. Switch your warm-weather clothing to a prime spot in your closet.
Deep clean the bathrooms, kitchen, and any other spaces you’ve used heavily over the last several months. Wash all linens, and spot clean your furniture if needed. Consider purging your closets or other areas that feel cluttered, and donating things you no longer need, want, or use.
Outdoor Spring Home Maintenance Tips
Spring usually brings several months of significant time spent outdoors, so getting the outside of your home ready to enjoy is a key part of any spring home maintenance checklist. Here’s what you need to do to get your home ready for spring, and even summer.
Clean your gutters. Yes, again!
A visual inspection from the ground may be enough, but it’s important to get your gutters and downspouts ready for spring showers.
Stain or reseal exterior woodwork.
This doesn’t need to be done every year, but staining or resealing your woodwork will not only improve its appearance, but also increase its lifespan and keep it from needing to be replaced.
Look out for termites or other pest invasions.
Check the perimeter of your home as well as the crawlspace and attic, looking for any signs of pests. If you see something, call a pest control service right away to prevent any further damage or nuisances.
Visually inspect the exterior of your home.
Check to make sure winter storms didn’t cause any damage. You’ll want to pay special attention to the roof, sidewalks or pathways, driveway, and any sprinkler or irrigation systems. If you find any damage, go ahead and fix it, or hire a professional for more significant problems.
Check screen doors and windows for holes and tears.
If you like to open your windows in the spring to let in the warm air, this is especially important so you don’t end up with bugs inside.
Get your outdoor spaces ready to enjoy.
Pressure wash your patio or deck, add fresh mulch or pine needles to your flower beds, clean your patio furniture, plant annuals in your flower beds, and take care of any other maintenance necessary to enjoy your outdoor space and yard in the spring.
While you’re at it, go ahead and pull out your lawnmower and other yard tools, and put away any outdoor equipment you used in the winter.
Summer Home Maintenance
Indoor Summer Home Maintenance Tips
When the dog days of summer hit, enjoy the cool indoors as you work your way down these summer home maintenance projects.
Check your plumbing.
Look for signs of leaks under sinks or on ceilings below bathrooms, and unclog any pipes that have been slow to drain.
Deep clean your kitchen.
Inspect and clean your garbage disposal, clean your dishwasher filter, and replace your icemaker filter.
Ensure that your kitchen appliances are functioning properly. If there are any issues, schedule the necessary home repair services. If you’re a coffee drinker, this is also a great time to descale your coffee machine.
Schedule quarterly pest service.
If the warmer weather or summer storms have sent bugs and critters indoors, now is the perfect time to schedule your quarterly pest service or any more intense treatments you may need.
If you don’t have a routine pest service contract, reach out to your local pest control experts to see if you should add this to your seasonal maintenance.
Take care of other minor indoor tasks.
While you’re handling home repairs inside, set aside time to do other things like:
- Changing air filters.
- Cleaning out the dryer vent.
- Replacing any burnt-out lightbulbs.
Outdoor Home Maintenance for Summer
During the summer months, there are important exterior home repairs and maintenance tasks to check off your to-do list. Be sure to stay hydrated, wear sunscreen, and work in the early morning hours to avoid the summer heat!
Staying on top of exterior property maintenance will make living in your home more enjoyable year-round and keep property value up.
Inspect and clean your home’s exterior.
To begin, assess your home’s exterior for any needed repairs. If you find something you can’t manage yourself, schedule time for a repair service.
Next, focus on exterior cleaning. Remove leaves and debris from any gutters or downspouts, clean cobwebs, dirt, and pollen from windows and door screens, have your chimney cleaned and inspected (especially if you used it for heat during the winter!), and pressure wash your fence and deck.
If spring showers caused mildew growth on your home’s exterior, remove that with a pressure washer as well. Once your home is clean, touch up chipping paint or stain anything that needs a refresh.
You can also take this time to clean and organize your garage!
Get any major systems inspected and serviced.
HVAC maintenance is critical to your system’s lifespan. Schedule inspections for this and any other major systems, such as a sump pump or septic tank, that may need annual or summer maintenance.
Take care of any summer gardening and lawn maintenance.
If spring’s blossoms and rapid growth have your yard looking a bit out of control, summer is the time to prune the growth.
Trim your landscaping so that it is both beautiful and not blocking anything important like windows, walkways, or, if you have them, security cameras.
Below are some other outdoor lawn-related maintenance tips:
- Pull weeds and freshen flower beds with new mulch or pine needles.
- Get your soil tested so you’re ready to seed or treat your lawn in the fall.
- Have your trees inspected by a certified arborist ahead of any summer storms that may put you at risk for tree failure.
- Check your irrigation system for any costly leaks.
Fall Home Maintenance Checklist
Indoor Fall Home Maintenance Tips
While most would agree that spending time outdoors enjoying the cooler temperatures is one of the best parts of fall, there are a few essential things to take care of indoors before the frigid temperatures of winter hit.
Below, we’ve put together a short fall maintenance checklist for your home; fortunately, it’s something you should be able to take care of in half a day (so you can get back to enjoying fun outdoor activities).
Get your heating system in tip-top shape.
Whether your home is heated by a furnace, a heat pump, a wood-burning fireplace, a boiler, or something else entirely, it’s important to make sure it’s fully functional and safe to use before the temperatures drop.
Call and schedule an appointment with your preferred heating and air professional to inspect it and make any repairs. In the meantime, if you have filters that need replacing or any other heating-related maintenance that you can handle yourself, now is a great time to take care of it.
Schedule a fireplace inspection.
If you regularly use a wood-burning fireplace or gas logs, now is the time to get them inspected as well. Call and schedule a quick inspection so you can safely use this heat source all year long.
Clean your carpets.
Fall is an especially great time to tackle this chore because you can leave your windows open. This will help the carpets dry without worrying about pollen and other allergens getting into your home or stressing out your HVAC system by letting in hot or cold air.
Outdoor Fall Home Maintenance Tips
Getting your house’s exterior ready for winter each fall is an important aspect of home maintenance. Winter can bring harsh temperatures and unpredictable weather, and getting everything in order in the fall can prevent major issues throughout the winter and even into spring. Here’s your exterior fall home maintenance checklist.
Clean your gutters and add gutter guards.
Before the leaves start to fall, take some time to clean out your gutters and install gutter guards. Leaves can quickly clog gutters and cause drainage problems, so being proactive is key. Once the leaves begin to fall, you should regularly give your gutters a quick inspection from the ground to look for any obvious signs of a blocked gutter.
Seal air leaks around doors and windows.
This will improve your home’s efficiency and keep your home warm all winter long. Look for deteriorated weather stripping or missing caulk, then take the time to seal any gaps.
Inspect your roof.
Ice can quickly turn minor roof damage into a major issue. Give your roof a quick visual inspection to look for missing or damaged shingles, damaged flashing, cracked shingles and wind damage. If you find any problems, get them addressed before there’s a chance of winter storms headed your way.
Freeze-proof any outside faucets or in-ground irrigation systems.
Disconnect hoses and drain the lines, and close shut-off valves to exterior faucets. If you have an irrigation system, refer to your manufacturer for winterizing instructions.
Fix cracks in walkways, driveways, and steps.
Ice can turn a little crack into a big, expensive crack. If you don’t feel comfortable DIYing this task, or you need major repairs, hire a professional to handle this for you.
Rake leaves and spruce up landscaping.
Take a weekend to get your lawn in shape. Fall is the ideal time to plant new shrubs and trees, fertilize or reseed your lawn, aerate your lawn, and cut back overgrown shrubs or trees.
If you have a lot of trees, consider hiring a certified arborist to inspect your property for any hazardous trees that should be removed or pruned to mitigate the risk of them falling and injuring someone or something in heavy snow or ice.
Finish Your Repairs & Relax
Once you check these tasks of your seasonal home maintenance checklist, you’ll be able to enjoy all the fun every season has in store! For tips like these, and more, visit our blog today.
