Fall Home Maintenance Checklist

The fall season has come with its unique warmth. And it presents a fantastic opportunity for homeowners to carry out both major and minor renovations to their homes. This season serves as the period to prepare for the cold incoming winter. After all, there is nothing more important than a good, safe, secure home.

To help ease your home maintenance schedule and ensure that you cover the vital parts of your home maintenance, we have created a fall home maintenance checklist 2021 to serve as a guide to you. Read on!

1. Take Care of Trees and Fallen Leaves

The autumn season is famously called fall because it coincides with the time of the year when most trees shed off their leaves. But this is not a cause for alarm, as you already know. Instead, as a homeowner, this period gives you an avenue to pay special attention to your trees. Fertilize to prepare the tree’s roots and mulch, especially if they are young. Again, ensure they remain hydrated. If required, you may need to employ a specialist. As leaves fall off the trees, they tend to litter (although beautifully) the surroundings, including your garden, porch, walkway, and other areas. So, regularly rake away fallen leaves from your lawn and porch before winter arrives. 

2. Make Exterior Repairs

1. The Roof: It is good to care for the trees. However, your priority has to be your roof. Ensure there are no leaks in your roofing sheets. Be on the lookout for weak or damaged roofing, and make necessary home repairs. 
2. The Foundation: The next thing is to inspect the building foundation, go around the building, look closely to check for faults in the foundation, and fix where you find faults or cracks.
3. The Building: Again, inspect the sidings and walls of your building closely. Check for cracks, gaps, and broken seals to avoid heat loss during the winter. It also stops water from getting into your walls because it can freeze over the winter and cause more significant damage. Another reason to seal cracks or openings in your wall is to prevent mice and other pests from taking refuge in your home during the cold winter.
4. The Walkway: Also, check your walkway and steps for faults and fix them where appropriate because once the ice starts falling, every crack will become bigger and less visible to see, which is dangerous.

3. Safety During the Winter

As mentioned earlier, one primary aim of a home is to provide safety for the household. And a family needs their home the most during the cold winter. To make your house a home during this period, homeowners should observe all these basic procedures.

a. Add weather strips to your doors and windows, including the garage doors, to avoid heat loss and prevent pests from getting into your home. Also, remove all window air conditioning units.

b. Conduct a proper and thorough cleaning and servicing of the house heating system, including the chimney. Store woods in a clean and dry place that could be easily accessed from the living room.

c. Check the efficiency of your safety devices, change the batteries of the smoke detectors as well as the carbon dioxide detects. It is safer to replace all screens in the house and replace them with storm windows.

d. Clean your gutters, downspout, or any drainage system you use to avoid clogs that could be caused by the freezing.

If you, as a homeowner, can tick all these simple procedures off your fall home maintenance checklist, you have guaranteed your family’s safety all through the winter.