Spring is here! Now that it is finally warm enough and sunny enough to be outside, it's time to check on a few things in your home to make sure that it keeps efficient and maintained.
Safety first! Make sure your family is safe by checking the batteries on your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Normally these will beep at you if the battery is low, however, you always want to test them a couple times a year to ensure that they are still working properly.
Before you kick on your AC you want to make sure that your system is ready to go for the summer. Regularly getting service on your HVAC is important. For your filters a regular yearly maintenance check is a great idea to schedule with an HVAC company to ensure a long life for your system. Your filters should be replaced annually so make sure you plan this out. We suggest in the spring during your spring home cleaning after the long winter or during the fall after the smoke from fire season has settled.
Sunrise Homes use York HVAC systems. This link takes you to the maintenance tips from York to perform on your system.
York: https://www.york.com/for-your-home/york-owners/maintenance-tips
Check on those gutters! An important step after the long winter is always to check on your gutters. If you want to do this yourself just be careful that your ladder is sturdy and that you have someone near by to help out. Don't lean your ladder against the gutter if possible. Also, we suggest putting on some gloves for this as it can get grimy.
Check all long spans of gutters for build up of leaves and clean them out by hand. Then take a hose and spray down the inside of the gutters. Also, spray down all downspouts until you see it come out the bottom. If it takes a long time, you could have a blockage. Sometimes these blockages can be sprayed out with spray head on your hose. If not that we suggest calling up a rain gutter company to come and clean them out and ensure that everything remains properly installed.
Caulking can wear out, peel off, or crack in some cases. It's important to go around your house and check to ensure that your calking is still in good shape after the winter. Places to check on the exterior are around your windows and doors. Calking missing from these locations can allow moisture seep into your home and allow air flow which reduces the efficiency of your home. Another place to check would be the caulking around your tile and countertops. These areas ensure that you wont get water get behind your walls but also ensure that strong adhesion is still achieved between your countertop and your base cabinets.
Wash off that winter grim! Sunrise does not suggest using a pressure washer for this. The pressure from the system can put extra wear on your siding and windows. Typically a normal spray head will do. Go around your house and spray off the siding and side walk to ensure your house keeps looking great. This is also a great chance to check for any siding issues or bug that you want to get rid of. For window, a mix of water and vinegar will work great for cleaning these.
Sunrise uses James Hardie siding and they offer a great list on how to touch up and clean your siding through the link below.
Time to dig into your paint bucket pile. Sunrise use James Hardie pre-colored siding so touch up should be minimal each year. However, you still want to make sure you walk through the interior and exterior of your home and check for any paint touch up that may need to be done. On the interior you will want to check for nail head pops or dents from furniture on your walls that may have happened over the winter. Below is a link on how to fix these!
Nail Pops - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aqCFnEMU7c
This can be done in early spring or late fall. Ensure that all your trees are pruned away from the home. Its important to note that its OK to trim the trees throughout the year if you see dead branches or leaves. Removing these at anytime is better for the tree then leaving them on. This is also a great chance to clean up your flower beads of any dead leaves and check your mulch. Well you are working around your house you also want to ensure that your foundation is in good condition. Check for cracks in all exposed areas. Also, ensure that your mulch does not come up all the way to your siding. Code requires a minimum of 6" to ensure water can not weep in.
For a few more maintenance items head over to the link below for Bob Vila's spring checklist!
https://www.bobvila.com/articles/2355-spring-home-maintenance-checklist/