It’s Time For Spring Home Maintenance

Spring is in the air and its time for you to get outdoors and make your house and yard look really good once again!

Have you conducted your own spring maintenance yet? If you haven’t, there’s no time like the present to get started.

Clean your gutters, downspouts and extensions to make sure they are properly directing water away from the dwelling.

Check out each and every window and simply caulk or seal off all of the openings; windows in brick veneer or stone homes frequently have small cracks at the intersection of the wall and the window allowing water in addition to insects to be able to get in. Synthetic stucco houses are susceptible to water intrusion around the windows. Be certain any kind of spaces and cracks are properly sealed to prevent water intrusion. This is an excellent time for you to check your windows for fogging in the glass and completely clean all of your house windows.

Investigate every one of your exterior doors as well as your garage service entrance to confirm they are properly closing and latching. You should search for loosened weather seals or any wood decay, especially on the patio door facing along the bottom and make any needed repairs.

Trim all shrubs and plants back, particularly from around your HVAC equipment .

Trim overhanging tree branches away from the property especially when they’re coming in contact with your house and/or roof. Trees can cause significant issues and can allow insects to enter your home.

Clear all debris from the roof and valleys and around the chimney, as well as look for nail pops as well as any type of loose or damaged roof shingles.

Should you be applying any mulch; make certain it’s not coming into contact with your house siding or wood trim as this will cause a lot of complications which includes wood rot as well as issues with wood destroying insects.

Examine exterior faucets and hose bibs; even frost-free faucets, in the event the barrel bursts water will certainly leak in the wall structure each time the faucet is turned on. A very simple method to check without requiring tools is to simply turn your water on a little and then try to hold the water pressure back with your hand and listen for any water spraying into the wall and look to see if any water is running or pooling along the walls.

Make sure that the deck hand railing is secured. Fix any loose deck boards and drive in any screws or nails which happen to have backed out.

It’s important to keep water away from any home period. Water pooling or ponding along the foundation of the house or just being diverted towards a basement or crawl space could cause foundations troubles, draw in wood destroying insects and create an excellent environment for mold. Make any required repairs or simply consider a professional to help keep this from taking place.