Summer Home Maintenance Checklist
Home Maintenance Checklist to Spruce Up Your Home This Summer
The climate in Central Florida, including Orlando, is categorized to be humid subtropical. May through October is typically rainy but the rest of the months are dry. Usually, temperatures are moderate, except during the summer, which is the least comfortable. During this season, there is high humidity and heat.
When summer is in full swing, it means homeowners will face the extreme warmth, which leads to huge air conditioning bills. Take this time to your advantage to get out of the house to perhaps do some running to get in shape and do some home maintenance chores. You can also seek the help of a property management company to assist you with the tasks.
Check the following duties off your to-do list before Fall comes in full swing:
Inspect Your Cooling Units and Detectors.
- Start with the easy ones, which involve ensuring that you will stay comfortable and safe inside the house:
- Replace the old batteries of your home smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.
- Dust up your fans using a damp rag or even a clothes dryer sheet. Attach a piece of cloth to a paint roller for cleaning the house, ceiling, and vent fans. While at it, you can also clean the back of your dryer and washer units.
- While you may want to let the professionals take care of your A/C unit, you can use the time to replace its filters. Clean up your air conditioning system to boost performance.
- Simply cleaning your HVAC system will help reduce your energy bills.
Take care of your refrigerator and range hood.
- While there may be many things you can do to maintain your home, your kitchen is one of the parts of the house where you should focus more attention, especially your fridge and range hood.
- The condenser coils, at the bottom of your fridge, are responsible for getting rid of the heat from your refrigerator. When they are dusty, they can contribute to high energy bills. You can vacuum the condenser coils but be sure you turn the fridge off first before you do so.
- The range hood fan usually has a long life, but the lifespan can be significantly reduced if you let dust and grease accumulate. The summertime is your chance to clean it up with a citrus-based cleaner.
- You can also take the filter and soak it in soapy, hot water, which can help make it almost good as new. If it's a carbon-based filter, now would be the time to replace it.
- Accomplishing these simple tasks can make a considerable change in the performance of these appliances.
Make your bathroom look better than ever.
Even if you have already taken care of your bathroom vent fans, your job is not done yet. You can finish it with the following summer home improvement tips:
- Your showerheads can collect mineral deposits over time, and they can affect not just the performance but also the longevity of your shower. It may seem like a difficult task, but there is an easy way to do it, which is to remove the the showerhead and soak it in a pan of vinegar/water solution. If needed, now is the time to replace the old model with a new one.
- Drains are not exactly anyone’s favorite part of the bathroom to clean. However, if you do not attend to them, you will have to pay the extra costs down the road. To start the task, pull the drain mechanism out and clean it using a drain stick. You should also pour some bleach down before rinsing.
- When you complete the tasks above, you can be sure that your bathroom will function much better than it did before.
Touch up on the exterior paint of your house.
- Your interior walls are not the only ones that need your attention. You can start with some light paintwork on the outside of your home.
- If you cannot remember the precise color of your house, you can take a swatch of paint and bring it to Home Depot or Lowe's to color match it for you. Keep in mind that color matching will never give you a true match, so it would be best to touch up paint in sections with a paint roller. Or you can use a paint sprayer to blend in the new paint color with its surroundings.
- Painting the exterior of your home boosts not only its appearance but also its value.
Wash your windows.
- Summer is a great time of the year for washing your outside windows.
- Fill a bucket using hot soapy water and start scrubbing your windows.
If you wash your windows at least once a year, you can get away with a glass cleaner. However, soapy water and a sponge typically deliver better results than other ways of cleaning. - Many homeowners do not clean their windows even once a year, but it is an excellent opportunity to use a little elbow grease so your windows will get squeaky clean in no time.
Replace or repair your window screens.
- While washing your outside windows can make your home feel cleaner, you should also wash your window screens or replace them if needed:
- Remove all the window screens and scrub them gently using hot soapy water.
If they are too filthy and cleaning is not helping, it is time to replace them. - If there are any holes or rips, now would be the time to repair your window screens. When it gets cooler in the year, you can open your windows and enjoy the outdoor breeze without bugs getting into your home.
Inspect your patio, walkways, and driveway.
- Another thing that you should accomplish this summer to help you with maintaining your home is to inspect and clean the paths around your home.
- Use a pressure washer to clean your patio, walkway, and driveway.
Before you use a pressure washer, ensure that you have checked the areas first in case there are cracks that may need to be repaired. - After inspecting everything, wash the area with the pressure washer to get rid of all the dirt that has accumulated for the whole year.
Check your attic.
- Some homeowners do not want to check their attics because it might remind them of a horror movie. All jokes aside, attics should be inspected for your benefit.
- Check the attic to see if there are pests or insects.
Sometimes, a critter, may have found its way in through a loose soffit. - As part of the process, take a look underneath your roof to look for darker spots. This can be an indication there is a minor roof leak, which needs to be repaired as soon as possible. An ongoing leak can result in mold growth, which can be detrimental not only to your home but also to your health.
Prep your deck.
- For homes with outdoor spaces, such as a patio or a deck, the summer season is the best time to have it ready for entertaining your guests.
- Ensure that there are no signs of disrepair, such as loose boards.
If you find any problems, fix them right away. - Most of the time, a good pressure wash will make your deck and porch look as good as new.
- If needed, you can sand and re-stain and the surface of your deck.
- If you have any outdoor furniture that is placed outside long term, now would be the time to get it cleaned.
- You can use a soapy rag with warm water to wipe down your furniture and let them dry.
Get ready to enjoy the outdoors when the weather starts getting cooler!
If you have a home in Orlando and you're interested in turning it into a rental property and having a property management company take care of it for you, give us a call! It would be our pleasure to take care of your home so that it will be a great investment for you for many years to come.