How To Prepare Your Home for the Summer
How To Prepare Your Home For The Summer
When you hear the word summer, you might be thinking of family vacations, using your new bathing suit, and traveling to beaches.
It is also the season for gardening, grilling, and long evenings outside.
However, spring is the perfect time to work on maintenance on your home. Especially to prepare for the months onward and prevent more damage during hot weather conditions.
With the extra time we have while staying home, it’s the perfect time to start.
Get some work done around your home during spring because you can’t do those works in scorching hot weather.
Seasonal home maintenance is vital to prevent major, costly replacements your home will need.
It is also an opportunity to open your windows and let the fresh air enter your home. With the help of air-cleaning plants to improve the air quality.
Listed below are the things you have to do to prepare your home for summer:
Clean your Windows and Screens
Spring is the best time to clean storm windows that spent a few months managing out the cold.
Fill a spray bottle with a window cleaning solution or a vinegar-ammonia solution to clean the window panes. Use a squeegee or a newspaper to dry it.
Make sure to wash the windows on a cloudy day because the sun may dry the solution quickly and leave streaks. If you have sensitive skin, don’t forget to wear gloves.
While you are cleaning, observe how your windows turned out during the winter. Check if there are signs of water damage and dry rot from melting the snow.
Aside from that, caulk the gaps in the frame. Check if the windows are working well by closing and opening each window several times.
Also, repair any damaged window screens and reinstall them in your windows. However, if you have trouble cleaning and installing the windows.
You can ask help from a professional service like SwiftClean to help you at a reasonable price.
Dust and Change the Direction of your Ceiling Fans
Ceiling fans have presumably collected an ample of dust after winter. It would probably take a lot of time to dust and wash them.
That’s why to prevent dust from getting everywhere in your house, use an old pillowcase while dusting the blades of the ceiling fan.
It will enable you to collect the dust inside the pillowcase.
Furthermore, consider changing the direction of your ceiling fans. It is designed to spin in a particular direction, depending on the season.
If it’s winter, your ceiling fans should rotate clockwise to circulate the heat that’s risen. While on the other hand, to make sure that the ceiling fans will create a breeze, run it in a counter-clockwise movement at a higher speed to make the area cooler.
Check Up Your Air Conditioner
Before summer arrives, make sure you inspect your air conditioners to confirm they’re working perfectly to keep yourself cool.
People often disregard the importance of examining their air conditioner. It can become a big problem if you fail to do regular maintenance, it can cause it to break down.
If you noticed that your HVAC is not functioning correctly, you need to think of a solution.
- First, change your air filter to ensure that the whole system runs without a problem.
- The next step is to clear any dust or debris around the vents, exhausts, and the central unit outside.
- Afterward, you can test the unit by only leaving your air conditioner on while you are away. If you prefer a detailed test, you can use a simple thermometer to check its efficacy.
- Lastly, if it’s still not working properly, call an HVAC professional that can check any defects or leakages in your air conditioner unit.
Set Up Barrier Against Unwanted Pests
Summer is that time of the year the bed bugs also enjoy. Although they are active all year long, there’s always an increase during summer, and there are two possible reasons.
- First, bed bugs increase in summer because there are a lot of people traveling. It travels in beddings, bags, pillows, clothing, and other fabric materials that are transported. More bed bugs go quickly when more people are traveling.
- Another reason is that bed bugs love the heat. The hotter the weather gets, the more aggressive the bed bugs are. In winter, insects and pests enter a form of hibernation, and when the weather starts warming up, they will begin to flock in your area, breeding and attacking more, making them more noticeable.
To prevent bed bugs, ensure that everything’s adequately sealed. Check for leaks and caulking in your doors and windows, and replace dilapidated doors.
Lastly, spray pesticide outside your house, and around the entrances and windows, making a boundary the bugs can’t cross.
Inside your home, diffuse under the sink, windows, baseboards, doors, and the corners of the house.
Inspect your Roof
Having a quick look at your roof could show some problems during winter, and those damages should be repaired before they become a major issue.
If you have a single-story home or a flat roof, climb up and inspect your roof. If it is too high, use a pair of binoculars to check your chimneys, flashings, and shingles.
Check if there are misaligned, broken, and missing shingles because they can seep in water.
Aside from that, check flashing for rust, and examine caulk in skylights or pipes to ensure that it hasn’t cracked.
Moreover, examine your chimney and see if the joints between bricks have fallen. Check for vegetation growing because it is a sign of water problems.
Lastly, examine your home’s exterior and repair areas where there is exposed wood to prevent disintegration.
Fix Up Your Yard
If you already finished fixing the damages in your home, you need to enjoy and rest in your yard.
To get the yard ready for the adults and kids, check the playground facilities and outdoor toys to see if there are sharp corners, displayed screws, and rust.
Assemble an area for entertaining, dining, and relaxing. Sand and repaint your furniture if there is rust.
Since summer is right around the corner, get your grill ready, and check the burners if there are clogs.
Ensure that the gas hose is safe, and restock the propane, or clean and remove the ash and grease if you have a charcoal grill
Get out there and enjoy
Now is the time to repair the damages in your home, make a few changes, and prepare for summer. With a few maintenance tasks, you are in good shape for summer.
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Now that we will be spending even more time in our backyards, it’s a good idea to keep it up.
Hopefully, you can sit back and relax knowing that your house is in tip-top shape after using these spring-cleaning tips.
Did you get any cleaning or maintenance done to prepare your home for summer?
Let me know, til then–cheers m’deres!
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Nancy Polanco is a freelance journalist, lifestyle content creator, and editor of Whispered Inspirations. She is a proud Mom to Gabby and Michaela and partner and best friend to Darasak. Having worked as part of a health care team for almost a decade, Nancy is happy to be back to her passion. She is a contributor to the Huffington Post, TODAY’s Parents, and an Oprah Magazine Brand Ambassador.