Spring Time Home Maintenance

Your spring maintenance checklist doesn’t have to feel daunting. Use this easy guide to protect your property and avoid larger issues down the road. 

Tending to your home is a year-round commitment, but spring is a time when it feels most fitting to check things off the to-do list and embrace the changing of seasons. Each time Castle Homes completes a project, they share a handy list of recommended home maintenance, broken down by season, so the list doesn’t feel endless. Spring-time maintenance includes repairs and touchups, yardwork, concrete care, checking irrigation systems, and readying your home for warmer weather. 

Check for damage 

Even in drier winters, water damage can occur in gutters and under eaves or soffits. A good gutter clean will reveal any damage and prompt you to schedule repairs quickly. After the gutters are clean, pressure wash and reseal any exterior tile surfaces to lengthen their lifespan. A full year of storms, rain, ice, heat, and cold can damage your roof, and ice can cause shingles to pull loose, so don’t forget to assess your house from top to bottom! 

The colder seasons can cause cracking and peeling in the caulking (particularly around the window and window sills) and rust on wrought iron rails and metal lintels over brick or stone windows and doors. Rust can be treated with some sanding and paint, and windows can easily be re-caulked. As you check your handrails for rust, make sure they are solid and sturdy! 

Freshen things up with paint 

Did you know that the exterior of your home needs a fresh coat of paint between the first and second years? After this initial painting, you should be sure to paint the exterior of your home every few years as needed. 

Cedar shakes or other stained surfaces may be able to last longer before re-staining if they are not sealed with varnish. 

Check your front door for signs of cracking, warping, discoloring, fading, or peeling of the varnish. Depending on the exposure of your front door, the type of wood, and the type of finish, you may need to re-sand and re-finish your front door anywhere from every six months to every two years. Once the door is in tip-top shape, remove any storm doors and replace them with screens—so you can enjoy the changing temperatures, but not the bugs! 

Work on the yard 

Whether warm weather calls you to spend hours outside tending to your plant life or you are looking forward to enjoying a low-maintenance yard, these tips will serve as a starting point: clear away any fallen leaves and branches, use a mulching mower to spread clipping evenly over your lawn (this provides natural fertilizer), loosen soil around all perennials, plant annuals, and vegetable gardens, prune your shrubs, and refresh the pine needs or bark mulch all beds and natural areas. 

Also, be sure to check all catch basins, gutter drains, and other drains to ensure they are draining correctly and free of obstructions. 

Give your concrete some care 

Without a doubt, concrete will get hard and crack. You can extend its life span and avoid costly overhauls by caulking cracks to prevent additional water damage below the surface. 

Check irrigation systems 

After you are sure the last freeze of the season has passed, prime and turn on irrigation systems and lake pumps. And remember to reset your irrigation and outdoor lighting timers! If you have a septic system, check to ensure that the established drainage around your septic tanks has stayed the same, and double-check to make sure your irrigation heads are not covering the septic field area. This could lead to saturation of the septic field and field failure. 

“These tasks will prolong the quality of your home and protect your investment,” says Alan Looney, owner of Castle Homes.

Whether you want to check everything off on a weekend or spread the tasks over a few weeks, let this list serve as an annual guide for maintaining your home.