“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”
—Henry James
Summer 2018: 15 Tips to Maintaining Your Home in the Heat
Summer is BACK! Sure the days are longer, the air sweeter, the sun shines brightly, and the weather encourages outdoor fun, but the HEAT, MY GOD THE HEAT. This weather can be a strain on your home, especially if it’s older. The best way to handle the beating of heat, sun, and weather on your fortress of solitude, is TO PREPARE. That’s why we have created a simple to-do list to ensure your home survives for one season.
HERE ARE 10 SIMPLE HOUSE KEEPING TIPS TO PREPARE YOUR HOME FOR SUMMER
1.) Gutters: Check for Leaks or Loosening
Make sure all of your gutters and drains are free from debris and leaves. Improper draining could lead to flooding of the basement and property devastation. While clearing the gutters, make sure they are securely attached. A 5 cent screw is far cheaper than siding, roof, or landscape damage, or worse, injuring on a loved one or neighbor. Make sure your gutter drains are clear as well, so water may drain away from the house, instead of inside.
2.) Leveling: Filling in the areas of your yard or foundation that are uneven
The unforgiving Winter can cause uneven lawn levels and low points surrounding your home’s foundation. Then comes Spring, with Spring comes rain. We all know the rhyme. Depending on your area, rain can cause flooding, which can lead to water damage around the foundation and, come Summer, thanks to those pools of water, AT BEST, they become breeding grounds for insects and put a damper on a Summer party. At worst?
……. Well take a gander at the above gif.
3.) Windows & Entryways: Check the Wood and Sealing
Make sure you make the best of your energy bill. To check, take a screwdriver and make sure there’s no separation in wood or the sealant on your windows, door jams, decks, or railings. If there are gaps, now is the time to repair, before the weather turns colder and damage them further and cause a larger problem later.
4.) Check Your Roof
You don’t have to start off on your roof for this, work smarter, not harder. Check it from your yard and check for any damaged, missing, split, or loose shingles or gaps, caused by the harsh winter weather. CHECK THEM NOW! The harsh summer sun can be extremely damaging to roof shingles. You should also check to see if shingles need to be repaired surrounding chimneys or vents, if they do, don’t be a hero, get an experienced roofer to fix these areas. The cost of these simple tasks will be far cheaper than replacing your entire roof later. If you need vast repairs, now would be a great time to begin budgeting money to fix your roof.
5.) Chimney: Check for Splits
After the thaw of Winter, your chimney has often taken 4-6 months of abuse from need to stay warm. Do yourself a favor and have a certified chimney sweep, to clean out your flue and inspected. Also check the chimney itself for damage and have it repair.
6.) Inspect Concrete Tabs For Movement
This is the time of year to inspect all the concrete slaps around your home to find movement. In the winter, freezing water causes matter to expand which may cause them to move. Concrete slaps should drain away from your home, but if the gap becomes to wide, fill in the gap with cement or silicone chalk after power washing out the gap before sealing.
7.) Old Firewood: Remove or Replace
Depending on your home, firewood is commonplace. The typical storage of wood outside throughout the winter. But as the season changes, dispose of that dead wood. The weather has made them either water logged, bug infested, or other problems that render them useless. The best practice for storing firewood is, covered, 18 inches off the ground, and at least 2 feet from a structure.
8.) Garden Hoses: Check for Leaks or Damage
Winter can be murder on your outdoor water faucets for freeze damage. To check, place your thumb over the opening of the faucet, turn it on, if your finger stops the flow of water completely, there is most likely damage to the interior sections of the pipes and needs replacement. If the hose itself isn’t stored properly, you may need to check your hose for dry rot. If there is, just replace the entire hose.
9.) Cooling System: Clean and Maintain
If you have to perform more than a simple cleaning, NOW is the time to hire an air conditioning specialist to perform maintenance. Why now? Because as soon as the heat increases, more and more people will notice theirs is not working as it should, filling up a specialist’s appointment book. While you sweat out the days of summer.
10.) Fuel: Check your levels
Get a jump on the season and get yourself gas, batteries, chargers, and sharpen blades. Fill them up now and forget about it until next year.
11.) Lawnmower Blades
Give the lawn mower blades a good sharpening now in the spring, when it’s pleasant outside, and don’t worry about it come August, when mowing the lawn alone is already an endurance test. Work smarter, not harder.
12.) Check Your Deck and Maintain Your Porch
Make sure there’s no rotting or foundation cracking. If there are nails sticking out either sand them down or hammer them further in. Afterwards, determine if sealant to prevent further weather damage after the harsh winter.
13.) Check and Clean Your Outdoor Cooker
For gas grills. Let the the grill cook, with nothing inside, for about a half hour. Then use a grill brush to clean off anything left on the grill itself. Use a wet towel to clean the outside of the grill. Then inspect the drip pan and clean it to prevent grease fires.
For Charcoal Grills. Empty the grill and wipe out any ashy residue. Then clean it inside and out with hot water, a scrubby sponge and some liquid dish-washing soap. Let the grill dry completely before using it again.
14.) Use the Weather to Your Advantage
With the season comes warm weather. Use it, by installing a clothes line. It will lower your energy bill and add a freshness to your clothes that can’t be manufactured.
15.) Make sure all of your Detectors are Properly Installed and The Batteries are Changed
Make sure your Smoke Detectors are properly installed and the batteries are changed so they are in working order. Same goes for carbon monoxide detectors and fire extinguishers. The only thing that could make a summer more hot is an unchecked fire.
Now that these After Getting a Jump on the Season with these Steps, Now you can take the time to appreciate the warm weather. Relax, smell the roses and enjoy the cool summer nights and all that R & R
Enjoy The Season!
Deborah Kerr
Keller Williams Elite, Realtors
Office – 732-549-1998
Cell – 732-910-1682
Get Pre-Approved TODAY!!!
