While the temperature may say winter right now, spring weather is getting ready to arrive. The air will warm, the ground will dry out, and you can begin walking around your home discovering the toll a harsh Midwestern winter has taken. The experts here at Maertin Heating & Cooling recommend you annually inspect your home and have your home appliances serviced.
With a winter’s worth of cleaning to do and a whole home to inspect, remembering what to look for can be tricky. Most homecare resources breakdown spring home maintenance into three distinct areas: the inside of the home, the external structure of the home, and the area around the home.
INSIDE YOUR HOME
Seasonal changes are always a good time to check your home appliances and safety systems. Cleaning your oven, replacing furnace filters, and checking carbon monoxide and smoke detector batteries are all simple steps you can take to extend the life of your appliances and maintain the long-term investment that is your home.
Don’t stop there. Call Maertin to perform a complete maintenance check, cleaning and tune-up. Spring is also a great time to drain your water heater tank. Draining the water heater tank removes built-up sediment and debris that will eventually degrade the bottom of the tank. Regular cleanings extend the life of the appliance and reduce your chances of a massive water failure.
Make good use of the warmer days by addressing any drafty windows and doors you noticed during the winter. Where cold air was seeping in during the winter, it will be seeping out in the summer. Plugging any gaps and sealing windows and doors will improve your HVAC efficiency year round. Consider installing an air scrubber or purifier to help your family avoid allergens.
Because the humidity rises as the weather warms up, experts recommend checking your basement for dampness and water intrusions. The sooner any cracking is found, the sooner it can be sealed. You can also take the opportunity to check for leaky or sweating pipes that might be a source of water incursion.
OUTSIDE YOUR HOME
One of the most destructive forces of winter weather is the cycle of freezing, thawing, and refreezing of water around your home. Water gets into cracks, freezes and expands. That expansion can cause breakdowns in walls, brickwork, and roofs. Take a walk around your home and look for any signs of damage. Siding might be rotting, bricks might be cracked or crumbling. Repairing any weak spots in your brick or siding ensures the degradation doesn’t spread and keeps your home well sealed.
If you can, check your roof or hire someone to do so. Clean your gutters in the spring (and in the fall), so look for loose shingles while you’re up there. Once you’ve checked your roof and cleared your gutters, make sure the downspouts are in working order and directing water away from the home. Check for any blockages or breaks that may have formed during the winter.
Maintaining your air conditioner extends outside the home as well. Make sure the area around the unit is clear. Maertin Heating & Cooling will clean any debris from the fans and grills.
Similarly, any drafts you treated inside should be checked on the outside as well. Resealing doors and windows may be necessary. If you took your screens off for the winter, put those back on as you inspect your windows.
AROUND YOUR HOME
While your first impulse when Spring arrives might be to get out in the yard and prepare the garden or flower beds, don’t clean up dead plant material until the nighttime temperature has been over 50˚ for about 5-7 days. This allows beneficial insects nesting in stems and leaves to hatch and to let decaying materials provide nutrients for the soil.
You can, however, look for and repair any damage to your hardscape. One common spring discovery is disrupted concrete. Sidewalks, patios, and stoops are all susceptible to water intrusion, which means they can slowly be broken apart by the freezing cycle. Sidewalks can also buckle or sag as water and ice work their way underneath and in-between slabs. Some of these issues can be patched or evened, but others may require professional help raising or lowering large sections of concrete.
In addition to any concrete structures, you’ll want to check the external water hook ups, fences, garages, sheds and any other structures for signs of weathering or breakage. While you’re inspecting the area around your home, you might also watch out for any holes, divots, or otherwise disrupted areas of the lawn and to ensure they don’t pose a hazard to anyone.
The end of winter is an exciting time in the Midwest. We get to open our windows and enjoy the outdoors! But if we want to have a comfy home to return to at the end of a beautiful spring day, we need to take the time to look over our homes and make sure they survived the winter as well as we did.
Ready to schedule your spring HVAC check up with Maertin Heating & Cooling? Just click here to request an appointment. We look forward to seeing you!