People often prepare their homes for the cold winter season but neglect to plan for the hot summer months.
What homeowners should know is that there are various things that must be taken care of before the summer approaches.
Depending on your preferences, you can do the job on your own or hire experts instead. If you decide to hire professionals to help you, visit this site. However, if you want to prepare your home for summer by yourself, make sure to consider the following tips:
- Check Your Attic
This is essential if you don’t have a fan or a vent to circulate the air adequately in this area of your home.
If possible, check your storage boxes and remove the things that you don’t use. If you’ve got some valuables that may not fare well during summer heat, try to relocate them to a more appropriate area of your house.
- Inspect Your Outdoor Plumbing
Spring is the best time to check your outdoor irrigation system and spigots. Get rid of the insulators or freeze caps from the outdoor faucets and turn on your water.
A slow trickle may indicate that you have an issue in your pipes. The best solution for this is to contact a plumber so that the water starts to flow the way it should.
- Tune Up Your HVAC
Tuning up your HVAC isn’t only essential when getting ready for the winters. It’s also important when preparing your home for summer.
It’s because there’s nothing worse than having a broken air conditioner during summer. During summers, most HVAC service providers are fully booked and you’ll have to sweat it out while waiting for service.
This is the reason why you should tune up your HVAC system as early as spring time to ensure that it’ll keep you cool during the hot summer days.
The first thing that you should do is to change the filter of your HVAC system. Dirty and clogged filters make the air conditioning system work harder. Consequently, it’ll need to stay on longer for proper cooling and cost more to run. Make sure to change your air and heating filters every 2-4 months depending on the dust particles in your home.
Once you’re done changing the filters, try running your HVAC system to check if it’s cooling your home. If everything seems to be working properly, it’s still a great idea to contact a professional to check your HVAC system properly.
With proper tune up, you can be assured that your HVAC system will work efficiently during the summer days and won’t cause any inconvenience to you and your family. Professionals will give you tips or suggestions on how to maintain your HVAC system well. They will also tell you whether or not you need an upgrade, especially if you have an old unit.
- Bug-Proof Your House
It’s a nightmare to live in a home infested with insects during summer time. Since most bugs try to escape the heat, they find comfort in a cool area. It’s also the season that they enjoy the most because not all insects thrive during the cold months.
You can bug-proof your home by sealing your property properly. Check the doors and windows to see if there are some cracks or gaps. You can also consider hiring the services of pest control experts to spray the outside of your property with insecticide.
Most pest control service providers offer some natural solutions to protect your home from unwanted visitors. There are also other pest control products that you may use inside your home, even without the need to hire professionals.
- Switch The Direction Of Your Ceiling Fans And Consider Dusting
By the time the winter season ends, your ceiling fan has likely collected some dust particles. With this in mind, take some time to wash and dust your fans. A good way to prevent dust from getting everywhere while cleaning is by using an old pillowcase for cleaning. This will help you collect the dust on the ceiling fans inside your pillowcase.
Aside from that, you have to switch the direction of your ceiling fans as well. Basically, these are created to spin in different directions depending on the current season. During summer time, ceiling fans must rotate counterclockwise for better air movement.
- Inspect Your Home’s Exterior And Roof
Having a quick look at your home’s exterior and roof can help you see some minor problems that may have started during the winter. Such problems should be repaired before they become big issues, especially if you plan to sell your house during summer.
Check for missing, cracked or misaligned shingles. All these can let the water seep in. You must also check the metal pieces where the shingles meet, for example, near the chimney. Inspect the caulk around the pipes to ensure that there is no crack.
Once you’re done checking your roof, you must examine the other areas of your home exterior. Consider pressure washing your house, if necessary. Check your exterior paint for chipping and touch up, or you can scrape any places to prevent rotting.
Conclusion
Summer is the season for relaxation and fun. Take some time to freshen up your home, so that you can enjoy the season. Some maintenance tasks at the beginning of the season will save you from headaches and high expense in the long run.
The tips mentioned above will help you identify and correct maintenance issues in time. But if you’re too busy to do such tasks, don’t hesitate to hire professionals for assistance.
