Fall Home Maintenance

Tips for Fall Home Maintenance

Fall is the perfect time to work on your home. The weather is cooler and sun is lower in the sky making easier to work longer hours outdoors without discomfort.

It is also the perfect time to perform fall home maintenance. This is the stuff that you need to do either to get ready for the winter or prevent future costly repairs such as roof leaks and rot and structural damage.

1. Check all window and door locks for proper operation, inspect door weather stripping.
2. Check your home for water leaks
3. Make sure there are working nightlights at the top and bottom of all stairs.
4. Consider buying a battery back up type that turn on the light if the power fails.
5. Have a heating contractor check and service your heating system every year
6. Protect your home from frozen pipes by sealing air leaks and insulating rim joists.
7. Replace your furnace filter
8. Run all gas-powered lawn equipment until the fuel is gone. Tune up and test your snowblower.
9. Test your emergency generator and keep the fuel fresh
10. Have a certified chimney sweep inspect and clean the flues and check your fireplace damper
11. Remove bird nests from chimney flues and outdoor electrical fixtures
12. Inspect and clean dust from the covers of your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Test the alarms and replace if over 10 years old.
13. Make sure the caulking around doors and windows is adequate to reduce heat/cooling loss
14. Disconnect your hoses and turn off the water.
15. Clean your gutters
16. Fertilize the lawn
17. Blow out irrigation system