Home Maintenance.

Maintenance usually needs to be done on a yearly, monthly, or sometimes daily basis. For instance, with any type of countertop you’ll want to wipe up spills immediately and give them a good cleaning at the end of the day. Your floors should be vacuumed or washed at least once a week, with a deeper cleaning scheduled once a year. Some people choose to do these tasks themselves, while others prefer to spend a bit of money to have someone else do the work. 

No matter how you choose to do it, many new homeowners don’t always understand all of the maintenance tasks they have to do. Unfortunately, this leads to greater wear and tear. Use the following as a guideline.

Spring Maintenance Tasks

Spring is the perfect time to do some home maintenance because it’s finally warm enough to go outside. We recommend:

• Cleaning up yard debris that may have accumulated at the end of fall and over the winter.
• Checking the gutters on a rainy day to make sure that the water is flowing freely. If not, clear up any blockages.
• Slanting dirt in flower beds away from the home. This directs rainwater away from the home. Your original landscaper would have designed the beds like this, but as homeowners add topsoil and/or mulch each year, it’s important to be aware of this.
• Taking on major cleaning tasks such as rug cleaning and window washing.
• Checking the exterior of the home for places where critters might enter.
• Servicing the HVAC system.
• Getting the garden and landscaping ready.

Related article: Readying Your Home for Edmonton’s Spring Thaw

Summer Maintenance Tasks

With longer days, the summer is the perfect time to take on any big projects you’ve been thinking about, such as building a fence or painting rooms in new colours. But don’t forget to take care of these common tasks during the summer:

• Lawn maintenance, including watering, weeding, and mowing. You have to keep up with this or it could cause damage that’s hard to fix.
• Powerwash the exterior of the home, including siding, decks, and patios.
• Touch up or repair any exterior surface. If there’s paint chipping or cracked siding, now is a good time to fix it up.
• Reseal your deck. This keeps the wood lasting longer.
• Watch out for bug infestation. Call an exterminator at the first sign.

Fall Maintenance Tasks

The days start to turn colder during the fall, but you still have time to get a few last-minute maintenance tasks done. Consider the following:

• Leaf management. Whether you rake or mulch the leaves that fall over your yard, it’s best to take care of it before the snow starts falling.
• Clean the gutters. It’s especially important to clean the gutters after the tree branches are bare. Leaves can cause clogging, which is bad news any time of the year, but as you head into winter these blockages are likely to cause ice damming. This can severely damage the roof.
• Check and replace furnace filters if needed. 
• Make sure the heater is working well. This is another good time for an HVAC tune-up if you didn’t have one done in the spring.
• Check the windows for air leaks. As the weather gets colder, these will make your home less efficient.
• Buy any snow removal equipment you might need. Shovels and snow blowers tend to sell out soon after the first big snowstorm.

Winter Maintenance Tasks

There aren’t a lot of maintenance tasks that need your attention during the winter, but those that do are important. Make sure you:

• Keep the driveway and walkways clear of snow and ice. It’s often easier to stay on top of this during a snowstorm by doing it halfway through rather than waiting until the end.
• Make sure that vents are not blocked. Check the outside of the home, for places like the dryer vent or attic vents. If these are blocked by snow, it’s not good.
• Open the curtains. Windows typically have some condensation on them. When you open the curtains, this can help the wetness dry up, preventing mould.

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