Is Your Home Ready For Spring Weather?

 

Is your home ready for spring weather? With the weather warming and rainstorms increasing in frequency, now is a great time to give your home a good once-over and make sure everything is up to par for the rest of the year. The winter months can be brutal on people and property, especially in certain areas of the country, so checking in on your home to make sure everything is still solid and in place is a good habit to be in to help ensure you don’t get caught off-guard months down the line by a problem you could have caught earlier.

Our houses are built to fairly rigorous codes, but they still need maintenance to be at their best, especially in areas that experience temperature extremes in the winter and summer months. Buildings are routinely exposed to the elements and even newer construction can suffer from some pretty massive issues if not looked after properly. Seasonal check-ins are a great way to avoid some of the more costly issues that can arise when homes aren’t taken care of.

If you have young children or other younger family members, you can even involve them in some good, easy lessons about responsibility and being prepared. Get the family together and spread out to check the roof, gutters, siding, etc. until you’re all sure of what needs to be done, then come up with a plan to tackle it as a team. This can also help the kids learn some good life skills they can use later on. So, is your home ready for spring weather?

Check Your Roof

Is your home ready for spring weather? Your roof is often the best place to start looking for the answer.

Issues with roofing can cost you a lot of money and cause a lot of stress if they’re not corrected soon after you notice them. Roof leak repair is one of the main items that roofing services offer, and for good reason. Water damage from roof leaks can really eat into your budget — not to mention your ceiling, walls, and flooring. Severe water damage can warp floorboards and necessitate a lot of costly repairs in addition to fixing the initial leak.

When inspecting your roof, check around for loose shingles or tiles, issues with flashing around vents that lead into the attic, or anything else that looks abnormal to you. If you’re not sure about whether something is okay, make a note of it anyway and bring it up with a professional who can take care of home water damage prevention. It’s better safe than flooded.

Service Your Air Conditioner

Air conditioning units need upkeep and maintenance just like any other piece of equipment. Spring is a great time to have it checked over by a professional after the hard winter months are behind you. One of the first things you can do at home is to change out your AC’s filter. The filters on AC units can only hold so much debris before they stop working efficiently, and begin to leave the air that does get through them full of particulates, which can be awful for allergy sufferers and those with difficulty breathing.

During an inspection, a professional technician with go over the unit for signs of stress or damage to internal components that may need to be replaced or repaired. If left alone, damaged components can cause the entire unit to fail and need to be replaced. They will also check the coolant, seals, and filters.

If you don’t have an AC unit yet and would like one, spring is a great time to have it done before the warmer summer weather sets in. Prices on residential air conditioning installation will vary widely depending on where you live, the condition of existing air ducts, and the type of system that would be best for your home. The average price is between 3 thousand and 7 thousand dollars.

Check Your Plumbing

Is your home ready for spring weather? Your plumbing may not be. The winter months can be especially hard on the plumbing structures in your home. Even if winter didn’t cause anything dramatic like a burst pipe, it still could have caused a lot of unseen stress to the overall system. It’s always important to check for leaks when working with plumbing and finding one will tell you exactly where the problem area is. Additionally, check your water heater for any obvious abnormalities, and your outdoor faucets for uneven water pressure, which usually causes the garden hose to bludge.

If you’re in need of a plumbing repair service, a quick web search for plumbers in your local area should be enough to get you on the right track to finding someone qualified for the job. It’s important to find a company you feel good about since they will be working on such an essential and intricate part of your home. It’s completely okay, even advisable, to shop around a bit and get quotes from a few potential companies before you make a decision in a non-emergency situation.

Drain cleaning should also be a part of your spring cleaning and general maintenance. This not only helps sinks and showers drain faster but also helps to reduce stress on the pipes and the possibility of localized corrosion or damage to the piping. Most clogs can be removed with a simple plumber’s drain snake.

Check and Clean Siding

Keeping siding in good order will help reduce the likelihood of water damage and infestations by small animals. Siding services offer damage repair and residing services as well as initial installation, so it should be a small matter to find a company you feel comfortable with. Holes and breaks in the siding are not only unsightly, but they can let in water from the increasing rainstorms that pop up this time of year as well. As we’ve mentioned, water damage can really be a huge headache.

Just as serious as the potential water damage is the potential for small animals such as squirrels, rats, and raccoons to get into your house. Winter often drives these small critters to search for warmth anywhere they can find it — including your home. Look for signs of disturbance including checking or biting marks on siding, vents, and other areas that may be used to access areas like the attic or the basement. You even need to call local wildlife control if you suspect that you have a few uninvited guests. Is your home ready for spring weather? Because your house guests just might be.

Fortunately, many wildlife control services offer humane trapping and relocation of animals who end up where they shouldn’t be, which many people prefer. It’s always best to address the problem as soon as you notice it instead of waiting for it to become a full-blown infestation.

Clean the Windows

Let the sunlight in by cleaning the windows. You can even contact a window cleaning service if you have a multi-story house and can’t get to the job yourself. While this is definitely a good way to start spring-cleaning, it has a very practical purpose as well. Cleaning the windows well helps to remove dust, dirt, and general debris that has built up over the winter months. This is especially important if you live near a main road which has been salted and plowed often.

Removing the dirt and grime from the windows helps reduce the chance of the window becoming scratched or broken as a result of the dirt being scraped across the surface. It also provides a psychological boost to your mood by letting in more natural light and reminding you not only of the world outside, but that the days will be getting longer and brighter now. While it’s not a direct cure, this can certainly help lift the ‘winter blues’ that many people experience over the colder months.

Clean Your Rain Gutters

Cleaning your rain gutters should be high on your list of things to do before spring really hits. The warmer weather means more rainstorms and more chance of debris building up in the gutters, so cleaning them out before the warmth really sets in is a good idea. If you ignore the gutters, you run the risk of experiencing water damage from runoff once the spring rainstorms start up.

Improperly directed water from storms can play havoc with a building’s foundations over time, and cause extensive damage to the walls, ceiling, and floor in almost no time at all. You can avoid this by cleaning out your rain gutters well before or during the spring thaw.

Once you’ve found a secure ladder that will safely reach the upper portion of your home, use your hand or a simple garden trowel to remove all the leaves and debris from the gutters. This will clear the pathway for water to flow safely around the house. You can also check your downspouts for any potential clogging that could harm the system or cause water to back up into the gutters. Most of these clogs can be washed out with a garden hose or cleaned with a simple plumber’s drain snake.

Waterproof Your Basement

Waterproofing your basement has several benefits. Waterproofing changes the way water interacts with the area, which can have massive benefits, especially if you’re living in a flood-prone area. A simple drain installed in the basement could potentially save you thousands in repair costs down the line. Minimizing the amount of water that can seep into the home can also help to protect foundations and other structures.

Waterproofing can also help to keep a basement dry. Reducing the moisture in the basement also reduces the risk of mold forming in corners or on anything that’s been stored there. This can go a long way toward saving you money in replacement costs for things like clothes and holiday decorations.

If you’re looking to waterproof your basement, your best bet is to contact a basement waterproofing service in your local area and see what they can do for you and your home.

Tackle Your Organization

Spring-cleaning can be a great way to really get your home ready for spring and the rest of the year. While the general focus is usually on cleaning and tidying up — shaking off the winter months, as it were — you can also use this time to carefully tackle any organizational tasks you’ve been putting off.

A lot of spring-cleaning is de-cluttering. Choose one closet or one section of the garage and go through it carefully. Make three piles — one to trash, one to donate, and one to keep. It’s okay to be brutal here, the point of this is to leave your life a little lighter and cleaner than it was before. This, like cleaning the windows to let in more sunlight, has a mood-boosting effect and can go a long way toward helping you shake off those winter blues.

Is your home ready for spring weather? Well, let’s see… If you’ve tackled the roof and the gutters, inspected the siding to make sure no uninvited guests have dropped by in the form of rats, squirrels, and other rodents, checked the plumbing for any major issues, had your AC unit serviced, and looked into waterproofing the basement, I’d say you’re well on your way.

Our homes are our sanctuaries, and for the most part, they’re pretty solid, but they need maintenance and looking after just like anything else — especially anything that’s routinely exposed to the elements. But if you look after your house well, it will look after you and your family year-round.

So, what do you think? Is your home ready for spring weather?