Fall Home Maintenance

Each Fall you should take some time to perform routine checks and maintenance on your home.  I like to tell my people to do it around time change, that way you don’t forget! When the time changes it is time to change out your AC filter, your smoke alarm batteries, and while you are at it do these things too:

• Have your furnace serviced and cleaned before it gets cold!  Here in Texas there are a lot of years that we are still in warmer temps straight into November.  BUT, before the cold weather hits, make sure that your favorite HVAC technician takes a look at your unit.  Not much is worse than needing your heater to work and it not coming on!  So head that off before the winter is here!
• Clear out your gutters.  Gutters are a great addition to your home, they save the foundation, and save you from getting soggy yourself when going in and out of your home.  But, after the leaves start falling the gutters can get clogged up!  You definitely don’t want that! This can cause issues to not only your foundation, but roof, eaves, and all that.  SO take an afternoon, and get on the ladder and clear out the leaves.  BUT, be careful while you are up on that ladder!
• Clean your chimney.  Lots of people use a woodburning fireplace during those cold winter days!  Make sure you have your chimney swept, a great rule of thumb is to get that done before your first fire of the season.  This also depends on how often you use it, but, soot does build up, so something to look into for sure!
• Disconnect your garden hoses and cover your exterior faucets!  We do get some frigid temperatures and the wind blows really cold some days too.  You don’t want standing water in those hoses to cause holes in them, but most of all, you don’t want your water lines to freeze up and cause leaks!  This can be costly and hard to fix, sometimes causing extra damage because of flooding.  Do what you can to make sure water lines are covered this winter!
  • Same reasoning goes for winterizing pool equipment and sprinkler systems as well.  Sometimes the winter temps are hard to avoid, but do your part!
• Do you have an outdoor grill or patio cushions that need to be covered or put into storage for the winter?  Most people do not grill out as much during the winter months, so this is a great time to give it a good cleaning and cover it up.  And you don’t want the weather to destroy your patio furniture either, so get it covered or stored away.
• Fertilize your yard!  Who even thinks about yard work in the winter?  I didn’t even know fertilizer time was for the fall until a few years ago.  Fertilize in the fall, and pre emergent before spring, then weed and feed.
• Protect your plants too.  Don’t forget to bring in your potted plants in before the first freeze.  And if you can cover your gardens and flowerbeds to help keep them warm.  Don’t lose your plants this winter, you worked hard for that all summer long!

These are just a handful of things that you can do to maintain your throughout the year!  Don’t let it overwhelm you and extend the life of some of the things you live with every day!   Then, you can relax and snuggle under a blanket this winter!