Our Top Spring Home Maintenance Tips

When it comes to the warmer months, you've got a lot that you want to get done. After all, a lot of spring home maintenance means catching up on all those tasks you neglected over the long winter months. With warmer weather rolling in, it's time for some spring-cleaning and routine maintenance tasks. That's why your local Wheaton handyman has pulled together our top spring home maintenance tips for you!

Spring is the perfect time to tackle a laundry list of tasks, including a lot of regular maintenance. And it's important to tackle these tasks quickly, to avoid having to pay for potentially costly repairs. With the cold weather leaving, it's the perfect time to start enjoying the warm weather and tackle all those tasks that have piled up. That’s why we’ve put together a list of home maintenance tips to help you check them off your list!

Our Spring Home Maintenance Tips: A Home Maintenance Tips Checklist

Repair Any Wood Rot You Might Find

With the snow melting, you might start noticing signs of leaks. You're also likely to start noticing signs of water damage to your outdoor structures, mostly wooden structures like your deck or fence. The harsh winter weather can take its toll on fences and decks, leaving them dirty and, potentially, damaged.

That's why one of our spring home maintenance tips is to get a professional inspection done of your deck and fence, to ensure that they're both in good condition. With how popular wooden structures are, particularly for the outdoors, it's important to make sure that they're not suffering from structural damage. Wood rot is the biggest cause of damage to wooden structures, including decks and fences.

Wood rot itself is a form of decay that's caused by a wood-eating fungus that attacks the fibers in wood, causing them to become weak, soft, and begin crumbling. It's a serious risk and the repair costs can quickly skyrocket if you don't deal with it early on. With regular inspections, you can ensure that your deck and fence remain in good repair.

When it comes to wood rot repair, trusting the professionals is the best course of action. They've got the knowledge and experience to deal with it and ensure that it doesn't become a recurring problem for you. With the winter season in the rearview mirror, it's an excellent time to carefully inspect your wooden structures.

Deck Inspections & Repairs

A key spring home maintenance tip is checking out your deck. Part of spring maintenance includes performing an annual inspection of your deck, making sure that it's still safe and secure for you, your family, and your guests. After the cold winter months, you're likely anxious to get back outside and enjoy your deck.

Although a well-built and maintained deck can last over 15 years, you should still regularly inspect it once a year in the spring. You'll want to keep your eyes peeled for rotted or wobbly support posts, weak connections, that your deck boards are properly fastened, and that there's no missing flasher ledging.

Luckily, the repair costs for a deck and its maintenance tend to be affordable. Deck repairs include replacing rotten boards and missing hardware, along with checking the support posts and their concrete footings. As for maintenance, you're probably aware that your deck requires a certain level of annual maintenance that's on your seasonal home maintenance checklist.

Your deck needs cleaning, which includes an annual power or pressure-washing service should be high on your spring home maintenance checklist. Once your deck is clean of dirt, grime, and old paint or stain, it's time to start looking at getting it re-finished with new stain or paint. And while you can certainly make that a DIY task if you're up for it, it's often better to go with a professional handyman for your next deck staining or painting.

Caulking Your Windows and Doors

When it comes to preserving the energy efficiency of your home, caulking is key. Not only does it keep your home from experiencing unwanted drafts, but it also keeps out water. Water leaks from a window or door frame are frustrating to deal with. And you're likely to start noticing them now that winter's gone.

As a spring home maintenance tip, you should inspect the exterior of your home, looking for areas that need caulking. These include places that you notice show signs of water damage, but also where you see that the caulk is cracking and peeling away. Once you've identified the problem areas, you want to make sure that you thoroughly clean the area and apply either an acrylic or polyurethane formula caulk.

When it comes to which kind of caulk to use, it's important to note a couple factors. Acrylic might be easier to use and clean up, but it's also good for narrow cracks that are less than an inch in width. Now, polyurethane is more difficult to work with, but it's worth the effort for certain applications, like concrete, your roof, or large gaps that acrylic wouldn't work for. No matter which material you decide on, make sure that the application area is clean before you begin.

Clean Your Windows and Their Screens

Regularly cleaning your windows is something that you can't really do during the winter months. At least, not the exteriors. And cleaning the screens can be frustrating. But this is something you can do with ease once spring rolls around, which is why this is one of our top spring home maintenance tips.

One way that you can clean your window screens is by removing them and washing them thoroughly with a garden hose. This will remove anything that's caught in them, taking care of dust and dirt that's accumulated over the last several months.

Now, if you'd rather leave them in place (or can't remove them), then you can dust them using a soft cloth or wash them using a sponge that's been soaked in a mixture of dish soap or vinegar and warm water. Much like above, this will remove all that accumulated dirt and dust. But you can just leave your windows open to dry them once you're done.

When it comes to cleaning your exterior windows, there are a couple of options for regular cleaning. One option involves using a regular window cleaner with either a soft cloth or a sponge. Another option, if you prefer a DIY solution, involves mixing equal parts of distilled white vinegar and water to clean your windows. You'll want to work your way from the top of the window to the bottom, removing grime as you go. Once you've finished washing the windows down, take a clean, soft towel and dry them off. Or invest in a squeegee if you want sparkling, crystal-clear windows.

Get Gutter Cleaning

After fall and winter, your gutters are probably full of a disgusting soup of half-rotten leaves and other organic debris. This is probably the spring home maintenance tip that most homeowners don’t want to hear about. It involves climbing up a ladder and scooping out that disgusting mess of soggy leaves, organic debris, and dead insects.

Although you can certainly tackle gutter cleaning on your own, if you have a ladder and the confidence required to use it, most homeowners opt for a professional gutter cleaning service. That's usually because such services also include an expert gutter inspection and gutter repair services if they happen to find problems during the cleaning.

Keeping your gutters clean and in good repair is important. That's because your gutters keep water away from the structure of your home and its foundation. Knowing the signs of wear and tear is important, as is taking the preventive measures necessary to keep them functioning properly. That's why getting a professional gutter cleaning is a great spring maintenance tip.

Clean and Prep Your Backyard Furniture

Once your deck or patio has been properly cleaned off, it's time to dig out the backyard furniture from storage. It's likely accumulated quite a bit of dust, grime, and dirt from being in storage, especially if you didn't take the time to clean it all properly before you put it away for the season. But cleaning backyard furniture is something that you can easily tackle yourself.

Give all of your cushions and furniture frames a wipe-down with a soft, damp cloth. A little bit of dish soap in the water will help get rid of the stubborn dirt and grime that sticks to it. Another spring home maintenance tip, maybe not for the cushions, is to give your backyard furniture (if it's wood, plastic, or metal) a good spray down with the garden hose.

Now, for your metal backyard furniture, you might notice that there are a couple of spots of rust. Removing it is simple, take a soft-bristled brush or some steel wool to gently remove the rust, then apply a fresh coat of paint to protect your furniture from future rust.

Clean Out Your Vents and Air Ducts

One part of your seasonal home maintenance checklist that you might overlook is getting all of your vents and air ducts cleaned. While this is something that you can tackle yourself, most homeowners prefer to employ a professional service to tackle cleaning these.

You can use a vacuum with a long hose and brush attachment to clean out your vents and ducts. First, though, you need to remove the vent and duct covers. These you can clean with a damp cloth and soapy water. Once they're clean and you've vacuumed out as much of your vents and air ducts as you can, you can replace the covers.

Fence Cleaning and Fence Maintenance

Your fence helps keep your property secure, provides privacy, and improves your property's curb appeal. But they often start to show their age. Especially after the winter. And you don't have the hundreds of dollars needed to replace it every year. That's why one of our spring home maintenance tips is keeping up with routine fence maintenance, including cleaning and fence repairs.

Wood rot is something you need to worry about, especially if you have a wooden fence. Wood rot repair can help keep your fence in good condition. But even if you have a vinyl or composite fence, they can still show signs of wear and tear. That's why it's important to inspect your fence once spring hits to ensure that it's still in good condition and take care of any needed repairs you notice.

Sometimes, all your fence needs is a good clean from a pressure washer and a fresh coat of paint. But other times you might need to replace some boards, fence posts, or footings. The repair bills can quickly add up, which is why you need to weigh what the most cost-effective option is for you and your budget.

Deep Clean and Declutter

There's a reason why the term "spring cleaning" exists. That's because the change in weather brings about a positive elevation in our moods. We're more motivated and want to spend more time enjoying the great outdoors. But we've also probably been neglecting a couple of tasks around the house that we need to deal with before we can go outside and relax.

That's why people enjoy taking the time when spring arrives to do a deep clean and declutter their homes. Now's the time to tackle those little improvement tasks that you neglected over the winter and get rid of anything that you've realized you don't need. It's a great time to throw open the windows and air out your house, getting rid of any musty smells that might be lingering from being locked up for months on end and unable to get a nice, gentle cool breeze going.

When You Need Spring Home Maintenance Tips, Turn to the Experts at Mr. Handyman

At Mr. Handyman of Wheaton-Hinsdale, we understand how intimidating home maintenance can be, especially when it's all piled up after the winter. That's why we offer a range of comprehensive home services that can tackle your miles-long spring maintenance to-do list. Whether you need help with a professional gutter cleaning or a fence repair, we've got the experts you need. Hopefully, this list of handy spring home maintenance tips has helped you figure out where to start!

Interested in how we can help you with spring home maintenance? Contact us today to see how we can help!