Your Home Inspector’s Spring Home Maintenance To-Do List
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When the weather is this beautiful outside, it’s hard not to procrastinate on the tedious chores on your spring home maintenance to-do list. Who wouldn’t prefer a little porch sitting or a nice walk in the park instead? Alas, your friendly home inspector is back again to remind you that when you put off these tasks for too long, things tend to get ugly. Ugly like the dust and mold situation in the image below. My allergies have allergies just looking at that photo! You have to work hard to accumulate dust like that.
Now that I’ve ruined your lovely spring day by making you feel all itchy, let’s get in there and do some work! Here are four important tasks every homeowner should have on their spring home maintenance to-do list:
Service Your HVAC
You should have your HVAC serviced at least once a year, and the best time is in the spring prior to turning it back on again for the summer. Many home warranty companies cover this, so if you have a home warranty policy, make sure you take advantage of that. Also, remember to change your air filters every 2-3 months, depending on the size of your home and whether you have pets. Can you imagine what the air filters look like from the house in that first picture?
Clean Out the Rain Gutters
How often should you clean out your rain gutters? More often than it takes for a plant to take root and blossom, that’s for sure. Homeowners should have this on both their fall and spring home maintenance lists. Or really all four seasons if you have a lot of foliage. Or never if you have a good gutter screen or cover that works. Even if you have gutter covers, you’re probably still getting a decent amount of pileup on your roof and atop the gutter area, so you should still take a look up there twice a year to clear it of debris and ensure the covers are intact and working.
Garage Door Maintenance
If your garage doors break down, it’ll probably happen during extreme cold or extreme heat. So it’s a good idea to give that big, heavy door some love before it’s baking in 100-plus-degree temperatures this summer. Your manufacturer’s guide should have the steps for proper care, but if you don’t have that handy, here’s a useful video for garage door maintenance.
Check Your Sprinklers
This is possibly my favorite video the inspectors have ever made. I’ve literally watched it over and over. Anyway, every spring, you should go through a routine check of each sprinkler head to make sure it hasn’t been damaged or turned the wrong way (or strategically placed under a downspout). Check the lines for leaks, and look around the yard after running the system for any signs of pooling or mud where there isn’t a head. This might indicate that you have damage underground from a frozen pipe.
So put down that cool beverage and get cracking. Those filters aren’t going to change themselves. We can hear your home value ticking downward from here! You can find a few more great spring home maintenance tips here and here.
