Guest blogger Paul Denikin of Dad Knows DIY offers up great project hints, tips, and tutorials about home maintenance chores.
Take it away, Paul . . .
Home Maintenance Chores
Summer-like weather has been waning for a few weeks now, giving way to the full fall season in the United States. Soon the leaves will be falling, and the cold weather will come. You’d love to be able to simply enjoy the weather outside with your children and pet dog, but your home maintenance chores are beckoning, now that the change of season is underway. It’s smart to take advantage of this time to prepare your home for the coldest months of the year, so that your home remains warm, cozy, and snug when the cold weather arrives.
Part of your job will be to make sure that your home systems are in tip-top shape. This includes your pipes, insulation, electrical grid, and your cooling and heating systems. Here’s a mini-checklist of what end-of-summer home-maintenance chores you can undertake to stave off visits from the expensive repairmen.
Clean Out Your Roof Gutters
Your home’s drainage system begins with your roof gutters and downspouts. Inspect and clean these before the icy weather arrives so that no water leaks into the internal structure of your home.
The melted snow or rain that hits your roof is scurried away from the exterior walls of your home to protect its overall structure. When the cool weather begins to set in, climb your trusty ladder and remove any system-clogging debris from the gutters of your roof. Watch out for rust and corrosion, placing mesh guards in areas that keep out organic leaf matter and other debris from interfering with rushing water being carried away from the walls of your home.
Repair Cracks in Your Walkways and Driveway
The concrete making up your driveway and walkways will need to be inspected for cracks that would otherwise be encrusted with ice during the upcoming winter. As the fall weather arrives, take a close look at your concrete walkways and driveway. You don’t want the ice in the cracks to damage your vehicle’s tires as you leave your garage.
Get in touch with your inner repair-guy and patch up any wide cracks using a DIY approach. You should also take care to level out uneven pavement areas, and make sure that your stairway railings are standing up sturdy and strong.
Preserve Your Pipes
When the cold, icy weather knocks on your door, it can freeze up your pipes if the water inside them stays stagnant. To prevent the freezing and bursting of your pipes, allow for a slight trickle of water to escape your faucets so that water is always moving in your pipes, preventing a deep freeze.
Check Smoke and CO Detectors
With the manufacturer’s manual in hand, verify that your carbon monoxide and fire detectors are still operational. When the hot weather turns cool, and vice versa, change the batteries in all your detectors. To proof your home against fires, place a fire extinguisher in your kitchen, as well as in a few select rooms of your home.
Refresh Air Filters and Humidifiers
Make sure that air is flowing and circulating throughout your house unimpaired. Remove all blockages and change up your humidifiers and air filters. If your home has an AC unit directly facing the outside, mull having it covered during the fall and winter.
A Final Thought
To keep maintenance costs low, it’s well worthwhile to inspect, clean, and repair the internal and external systems of your home when the fall comes. By checking off the items of the mini-checklist above, you’re doing yourself and your family a favor by securing a warmly insulated home during the cold-weather season.
Great tips, Paul – thank you so much for sharing, and I hope you, yours, and everyone who reads this enjoys a happy, warm, and safe remainder of 2017.
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