As the weather starts to cool, you need to ensure your home is ready for both the autumn and winter months. Fall home maintenance is key to living a comfortable home life through the colder months of the year.
Ready to maintain your home? Here are five essential components of your fall home maintenance routine:
Seal The Gaps
As the weather cools outside, creases around your windows might shrink. There may be other gaps around your home letting the heat escape and permitting the cold to seep in.
To avoid this, walk around both the inside and outside of your home to identify all the gaps. Where possible, we recommend caulking your windows. You can also seal the gaps using insulating film for some windows and doors.
Exterior Repairs
How does the exterior of your home look? Is the paint peeling? Is there damage to your deck? What about the state of your gutters?
Fall is the perfect time for exterior home repairs such as repainting or varnishing your home, cleaning out the gutters (from all the fall leaves), et cetera. This helps ensure your home is in the best condition possible for the increasingly harsh conditions and is ready to be at peak performance levels—fall and winter require more work because of the increased wear and tear!
Check The Heating
Now that fall is around, you likely will not need your air conditioning. However, you will make use of your heating!
There are a few ways of heating your home. Some people have an electric or gas fireplace, while others have a wood-burning one. Some even have a central heating system with furnaces.
Regardless of how you will be heating your home, make sure you check that your heating system is safe and functional as part of your fall home maintenance routine. Doing so will ensure you are able to heat your home as long as necessary without worry.
Yard Work
Another component of essential fall home maintenance is yard work. The top thing on this list is, perhaps, raking up all the leaves fallen from the trees. This allows your lawn to breathe and will help it survive the winter so it remains in good condition once the snow melts. Other parts of yard work include repairing your patio and covering anything that won’t react well to the snow (e.g. an outdoor barbeque).
Check Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors
Never forget to check your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors during your fall home maintenance routine. Ensure you have charged batteries in all devices. Your smoke alarm is key during the winter if you have a wood-burning fireplace, and your carbon monoxide detector increases in importance with every oil or gas appliance you have. Popular ones include a furnace and water heater—common to almost every home.
If you have to install any of these detectors and alarms, be sure to follow the manufacturer’s directions for installation. This often includes ensuring they are within earshot of the main living room and the bedrooms.
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