Now that the spring is coming to a close, it’s time to prepare for the hot months ahead. Your home might also need a bit of maintenance after a long winter of cold weather. Add these four home maintenance tasks to your to-do list to make your home ready for summer.
1. Perform seasonal maintenance on your air conditioner.
Image via Flickr by okchomeseller
No matter how new or efficient your air conditioner is, it needs a bit of maintenance every time the seasons change. Regular maintenance keeps the system in good condition and helps you catch developing problems before they turn into expensive malfunctions. At the very least, clean the vents and replace the air filter.
If you’ve noticed a few problems like noise, extra cycles, or rooms that don’t get conditioned air, now is the time to get your air conditioner checked out. Those problems will grow as the temperature increases, and the last thing you want is a week without an air conditioner during the summer. DIY maintenance beyond changing out the filter and vacuuming the vents may invalidate your warranty, so always call in a professional when your air conditioner needs a tune-up or preventative maintenance.
2. Clean out your home’s dryer vent.
During the autumn and winter, you may find yourself doing more laundry. Clothes will get damp from bad weather, and heavy coats, jeans, and sweaters mean more loads in the machines. But all of that extra fabric will have filled your machine with extra lint. Your dryer’s vent collects lint and dust. This is extremely flammable, and that’s dangerous when it’s so close to the heat from electricity or gas. Pull out the machine and clear away all of the lint.
3. Flush your water heater.
While draining your water heater isn’t a summer-specific task, it does need to get done once a year. The end of spring is the best time to perform the chore. You can clear out all of the sediment that built up from a lot of hot water use during the winter. Then you don’t have to worry about a poorly functioning water heater during the summer. If you prefer to have a professional handle the task, now is also the perfect time to avoid the busy season.
4. Check your gutters for leaks and clogs.
Depending on where you live, you might not have received a lot of rain over the spring. That means you might not know if your gutters have developed cracks or clogs from the past winter. Climb a ladder and run some water through the gutters to check for any problems. Now is also a great time to add leaf guards to your gutters so you have less maintenance to worry about in the fall and winter. If you had a lot of rain this spring, make sure you clear away the leaves, nests, and twigs that could clog the system during heavy storms.
As the weather starts to change, it may feel like you have a lot to do and not enough time to do it in. But if you take care of these four maintenance tasks early, your home will be in good shape for summer.
