Prioritizing maintenance now will save you money down the road!
Spring Home Maintenance Checklist: Enhance Comfort, Safety, and Enjoyment
Maintaining your Ann Arbor area home systematically is crucial for preserving its value, ensuring safety, and enhancing overall well-being. Our Ann Arbor Spring Home Maintenance Checklist covers essential tasks for a comprehensive seasonal home maintenance program.
Get a downloadable version of our Ann Arbor Spring Home Maintenance Checklist.
When it comes to home maintenance, two camps exist – the Do-it-Yourselfers and the Delegators who prefer hiring professionals. No matter your preference, we have Ann Arbor area contacts to assist with your home maintenance needs.
1. Clean Your Home’s Exterior:
Nothing will improve your curb appeal faster than power washing the exterior.
Power wash and clean exterior siding and soffits, decks and rails, and exterior light fixtures to remove dirt and mildew buildup over the winter months.
Biggest bang for the buck item – your home exterior will shine and you will feel great about your home! Exercise caution not to overdo it; excessive pressure can etch wood, peel paint, and deteriorate siding and roofing.
2. Clean, Declutter, And Organize Your Home:
Give away, throw out, or sell items you no longer need.
Dispose of unneeded and unused items to optimize your space. If you haven’t used something in over a year, consider whether it’s still necessary.
Ensure frequently used items are easily accessible and less frequently used items are put away. Perform deep cleaning of floors, carpets, doors, sills, moldings, furniture, and light fixtures. Start at the far end of the home and work your way to the doors.
3. Clean Gutters and Downspouts:
Water is a home’s worst enemy; ensure it flows away from your house consistently.
One of the most crucial home maintenance tasks is cleaning out gutters and downspouts. Throughout fall and winter, leaves, sticks, and debris accumulate, weighing them down and causing clogs. A compromised gutter system can lead to significant problems when rainwater drips down the side of your home.
Fixing rotten floor joists or a wet/moldy basement is more time-consuming and expensive than ensuring your gutters and downspouts function properly throughout the year. Ensure they are clean, clear, and operating correctly, allowing water to flow far away from your foundation.
4. Inspect the Foundation And Create Good Drainage:
Check along the foundation to ensure no cracks or holes allow critters to enter your home. Even the smallest hole can let bugs, mice, and other pests invade your space.
Verify there is a positive slope away from the house, allowing water to drain away from the foundation. Add topsoil along the foundation as needed, as seepage into your basement or crawl space is often due to poor grading, allowing water to flow into the home along the foundation.
5. Prune Landscaping And Yard Clean-up:
Visit Downtown Home and Garden for your Ann Arbor home maintenance needs.
If you have bushes or trees along the sides of your home, trim back vegetation and branches to prevent damage to exterior paint and siding over time. Clear away leaf litter and debris from the side of your home and any exterior window wells. This helps keep moisture and bugs away from your home. If you’re not a fan of creepy crawlers, consider having your foundation sprayed by a professional to keep your home entirely bug-free.
Cleaning up old mulch from the previous year will prevent a mildew smell, and raking up leaf litter and debris from your yard will help your grass grow evenly and healthily.
If you live in a community with an active management company responsible for exterior maintenance, don’t hesitate to ask them to come out and take care of tasks or repair issues in your yard. You’re paying for this service – make sure these tasks are completed.
A great way to add value to your home is to plant additional trees and shrubs each year. Planting trees and shrubs can be expensive and require maintenance, especially when new. Create a long-term planting schedule and do a little bit each year. The benefits will compound over time, increasing the value of your home while enhancing your sense of well-being and enjoyment.
If you’re eager to boost your curb appeal, visit a local garden shop like Downtown Home and Garden and purchase lawn care tools and treatments.
6. Maintain Your HVAC System:
Your HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) system deserves maintenance, including monthly or quarterly filter changes, cleaning and lubricating moving parts, and thoroughly checking the system’s operation, including the thermostat. For this, a licensed heating and cooling contractor is the best choice. Ann Arbor summers are hot, so schedule your spring tune-up before companies get backlogged. If you need a referral, we have a list of excellent HVAC contractors.
7. Inspect Your Roof:
Inspect your roof surface, flashing, eaves, and soffits. Perform a thorough cleaning and check flashings around all surface projections and sidewalls. Occasionally, check the attic space for proper ventilation and signs of moisture and mold due to inadequate ventilation or leaks – especially around gables, valleys, and all roof penetrations.
If you plan to inspect your roof yourself, ensure another person is with you, keeping your ladder steady and watching out for you. If climbing a steep roof isn’t your cup of tea, reach out to us for a list of local contractors who can service all your roof cleaning needs.
8. Maintain Your Sprinkler System:
Save money on your water bill. Make sure your sprinkler system is tuned up and operating correctly!
Inspect underground sprinkler systems for leaky valves, exposed lines, and improperly working sprinkler heads each spring. Make sure that zones are timed correctly, and adjust sprinkler heads to minimize water wastage.
During the winter, exterior hose connections should be shut off and drained. In the spring, turn them on and make sure faucets are in proper working order, and no pipes burst during the winter.
9. Repair and Lubricate Window Hardware:
Clean and lubricate window hardware, repair or replace damaged screens, and replace fogged glass panels caused by broken seals in thermal pane glass panels. Clean window sills and windows.
10. Maintain Doors And Locks:
It’s never a bad time to maintain your doors and locks!
Lubricate and adjust all doors and locks to ensure they close and latch securely and easily. Check door seals for damage and air leaks and repair or replace them as needed. Consider replacing poorly operating locks with newer technology digital locking devices. Think about adding a storm door to seal out the cold in winter and keep your house cool in summer.
11. Repair or Replace Damaged Exterior Wood Trim:
Check exterior wood trim for holes, cracks, and rot. Caulk to seal or replace trim to ensure water pests and animals are sealed out. Pay special attention to the wood trim on your chimney, any wood close to the ground, and along window sills. Soft or rotten wood can allow water to penetrate and cause mold inside the walls and unseen structural damage if not managed. Prime and paint as needed.
12. Inspect Concrete:
Check concrete for cracks and settling. Check for uneven steps. Seal, mud jack, repair, or replace concrete to seal out water and eliminate trip hazards.
13. Check Power Equipment:
Check your gas and battery-powered lawn equipment to ensure it is ready for summer use. Clean equipment and sharpen cutting blades to make yard work easier and safer.
If you have your lawn equipment serviced, it’s best to get work done off-season to avoid long delays. Have your lawn mower serviced in February and your snow blower in July!
14. Important Safety Items:
Don’t forget to change your smoke and carbon monoxide detector batteries!
Test GFCIs. If you do not have these (older homes may not), consider having an electrician install GFCI receptacles in all electrical outlets within 6 ft of running water. Check exterior outlets as well.
Test smoke and Carbon Monoxide detectors monthly. Replace the backup battery at least once every year. Replace the entire smoke alarm every ten years.
Test your home for Radon every few years. Read our Guide to Radon in Michigan for more information.
If all this work sounds daunting, we can help you find licensed professionals to assist and offer our advice on must-dos versus optional spring home maintenance. As home experts and advisors, we are here for our clients throughout their homeownership journey.
Maintaining your home to maximize its value, enjoyment, and safety is essential, so reach out anytime for a contractor reference or resources.
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