Many areas in the northern half of the USA and most of Canada are just emerging from the annual deep freeze of winter. We posted on our blog a check list covering this subject back in March. We thought that it would be a good idea to repeat this post or at least reference it again. Consumers all through the northern areas of North America and even northern Europe are just now thinking about all of the home maintenance things they need to do to get their homes ready for the summer time. Most people focus on their yards and the planting of flowers, trimming some shrubs and cleaning up garden beds. But there are many more things that should be considered as part of the spring home maintenance.
A link to the post is – Spring Home Maintenance. We have a long list that consumers should find helpful. They can refer to this list as they go about the job of getting their homes ready for the summer.
If you are the type that does not like to do this type of work, consider hiring someone to do this work for you. Even though it will cost a bit of money, this is a far better thing to do than to let things go. You will eventually have to spend a lot more money repairing various items around your home than if you just keep everything maintained. This is where you can really save a lot of money in the long run around your home. Small regular maintenance bills are far easier to handle. Than one large repair job that took place because you did not do the regular maintenance activity.
Spring Home Maintenance – First Steps
The first step that we believe all home owners should consider is to take a walk around their home outdoors and assess if there are any improvements that need to be completed and if there any repairs that need to be completed. Repairs should be at the top of the list to avoid further expense. For example if there is a piece of siding missing or cracked, it will let water, animals and insects into your home. Take note of these items and repair them as quickly as possible depending on the potential for more damage to your home if they are left un-repaired. In the next paragraph, we discuss an example of what we mean by this statement.
Clearing Eaves Troughs
This is a good example of saving money in the long run. Lets assume that you do not bother with the eaves trough and just leave them full of leaves and other material. The trough will be full of water most of the summer, with the material in the trough rotting away and creating an acidic mixture that over time will eat away at the eaves trough. You will need to replace them far in advance of when they normally should be replaced.
In addition this constant moisture will cause your shingles to deteriorate a little faster in this area. In the fall when it freezes, you now have a heavy weight on the trough. This is due to the snow and ice which over time will cause them to sag. They are now beginning to look ugly. You will have to either replace them or at the very least spend money repairing them.
A few hours a year will avoid this entire cost and aggravation. In addition during a heavy rain, the water coming off your roof will flood your eaves trough and overflow onto the ground below. This totally defeats the purpose of having eaves troughs in the first place. You could even have leakage into your basement if there is a lot of water standing around your basement walls. Water in your basement especially if it is finished, can cause a great deal of damage.
We will keep this post short , but we want to draw your attention to the spring home maintenance list that we prepared a few months ago. A link to the post is – Spring Home Maintenance.
Add your comments. Our readers will appreciate your comments and suggestion of home maintenance that you need to follow-up on.