Spending Some Extra Time at Home? Do These 4 Things to Take Care of Your Spring Home Maintenance
Spring is here! And, if you’re like many Americans, you’ve been spending a lot more time in your home than usual. This is the perfect opportunity to show your home some love.
By performing some essential spring home maintenance, you can fix minor issues that could become serious and greatly damage your home. Plus, because spring home maintenance is all about checking to make sure everything’s working like it should, this can be a really inexpensive home project. Here are four things to do when you’re performing your spring home maintenance.
1. Inspect your exterior.
Take a walk around your house. In particular, you want to look at the foundation, siding, yard, and windows.Foundation
As you walk around your house, check your foundation for cracks. Foundation cracks are a serious issue. Although small cracks may seem minor at first, these cracks can grow over time and ultimately cause thousands of dollars worth of damage. In fact, foundation cracks can cause homes to collapse or become condemned.If you notice cracks in your foundation, please contact a professional for a further assessment and estimate for repairs.
Siding
As you walk around your home and look at your siding, there are a couple things you want to be looking for:- Is there water? If you notice streaks or other signs of water, it could mean that water already has or could potentially cause damage to your siding.
- Is there mold? If you notice mold growing on your siding, take note. You’ll want to buy some special wash and clean it off.
- Are there gaps or holes? If your siding has gaps or holes, you want to talk to a professional about having it repaired.
Yard
Take a walk around your yard. Even though it’s spring, don’t judge your tree, flowers, or overall landscaping. Instead, you’re looking for low spots or soggy spots. Right now is the perfect time to find areas of your yard that might accidentally be sending water toward your house instead of away from it.Windows
As you check the exterior condition of your windows, look for issues like cracked or peeling caulk. If you find any damaged or old caulk, remove it, clean the area, and apply a new bead of caulk to ensure water doesn’t make its way into your home through your windows.2. Check out the view from the roof.
After you’ve looked around your exterior on land, you’ll want to check it out from above. Grab a ladder and head to your rooftop to examine your gutters, chimney, and shingles.When you’re checking out your gutters, you want to remove any debris that may have accumulated in them over the fall and winter. Also, check to make sure everything looks secure and angled correctly for drainage. You want to make sure water is ready to drain away from your home when the spring storms hit.
Next, check out your chimney, if you have one. Look for loose bricks and any sort of exterior growth. Both of these indicate potential structural issues. Also, look for any white, calcium-like deposits; these mean that your masonry is absorbing water instead of repelling it.
3. Explore your interior. 
As you walk through your house, look at your interior walls and floors, particularly near windows. You want to try to notice any potential leaks or dampness.Also, take a look under your sinks and around your toilets. Now is a great time to double-check that your most-used plumbing fixtures are doing their jobs correctly and aren’t leaking.
4. Give your home the sniff test.
If you’ve got a good sniffer, you might be able to detect mold, damp spots, and even animal pests. You will especially want to check in the basement, in corners, and around your windows.Remember, although mold can easily be cleaned up, it’s a symptom that something larger isn’t working correctly. Make sure to hire a professional to help you determine what exactly is causing your problem.
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