When forking over hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy a home, you can’t afford to overlook proper maintenance and repairs.
Considering a home is most people’s biggest investment, you’ll want to commit to proper upkeep so that your return on investment skyrockets.
Knowing what type of maintenance to tackle can help you stay on top of things so nothing falls between the cracks.
We’re now at a time of year when winter isn’t that far away. So, as fall progresses towards the cold weather season, various things should be on your home maintenance to-do list. Continue reading to see five must-do fall home maintenance tasks.
1. Inspect and Clean Gutters and Downspouts
Your first order of business is to inspect and clean out the downspouts and gutters. You may need to get on a ladder to clean out the gutters and downspouts properly.
Remove leaves, branches, debris, dirt, and anything else in the downspouts and gutters. Otherwise, water won’t flow properly. You don’t want to end up with ice dams or water build-ups that can cause issues near the foundation of your home.
Failing to clean your gutters and downspouts can lead to roof leaks and water damage, which will cost an arm and a leg to fix. You can, however, avoid many problems with proper maintenance.
2. Inspect the Roof for Damage
It’s a good idea to inspect your roof. That’s especially true if you live in an area that gets lots of snow or rain. Booking a service call with a roofing company is a worthwhile investment. Have them inspect the roof for signs of wear, damaged shingles, cracks, or anything that spells danger.
The service provider will report their findings and make recommendations if they discover any issues.
The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons reports that 500,000 people were treated for injuries sustained in ladder-related incidents last year. Meanwhile, three hundred people involved in these unfortunate situations lost their lives. So, it makes sense to hire a professional to go on your roof rather than risk life and limb by doing it yourself.
3. Check Windows and Doors
You shouldn’t forget your windows. Visually inspect them to ensure they’re in good shape. If there are drafts, use weatherstripping or caulking to seal gaps around windows and doors.
Don’t negatively impact interior comfort and increase utility bills at the end of the month. Unfortunately, you’ll do just that if you take your windows for granted.
While some problems can be fixed, others may warrant heading to a replacement window store. Cracked glass and damaged mechanisms are signs you may need new windows.
Failing to replace windows when necessary will lead to more problems than you know what to do with. It’s not just about your HVAC unit working harder. You may also encounter pest infestation if your windows are an easy point of entry for determined mice or other pests.
4. Service Your HVAC System
Annual HVAC service is also essential. If you don’t get this done, the risks of catastrophic failure will go up. You need to get a tune-up and any other HVAC service recommended by the manufacturer. So, finding an HVAC technician who can take care of your HVAC unit is a good idea.
5. Test Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors
Don’t forget to test your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Change the batteries and follow the testing procedures to put them through their paces so they operate as expected in emergencies. While this is an easy maintenance item, it’s one that many homeowners ignore.
If you’re a homeowner, there’s always something on your to-do list. Don’t overlook essential home maintenance and repairs. You can bet that after completing them, there’ll be more to do by the time spring rolls around.
We inspect and clean our gutters in the fall and in the spring. SOOO much accumulates in them. If you don’t stay on top of it, you could have a major problem.
HVAC service is so important. Our furnace broke down in the dead of winter one year, and we were without heat for four days in Chicago. NO thank you.
These are important tasks to complete before Autumn. It’s particularly important to make sure the heating is in good working order before the cold weather starts!
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
These are all very important things to keep check on. You have just reminded me to test the batteries in our smoke alarms and also in the carbon monoxide tester!
Great timing, we are getting our garage roof repaired this week as it needs doing before the winter comes. They are all good points to check I know our carbon monoxide alarms are ok as is the smoke alarm
These are extremely helpful tips, thank you so much…I will get these done this weekend especially servicing the HVAC system.
We need to do a refresh of our boiler before the heating starts coming on again. But good shout about the gutters as we’ve not had them cleaned since last winter x
HVAC maintenance is definitely something we shouldn’t overlook! I think many of us only remember to have it serviced when something goes wrong. Thanks for sharing these helpful tips and the reminder. I’m going to schedule our maintenance soon!