Home Improvement Tasks to Complete Before Summer Begins
Summer is just about upon us, and you need to make sure that you handle various repairs and upgrades that help make this process easier for you to handle. So before spring ends and you find yourself without a lot of free time to repair your home, you might want to consider these steps. Doing so will provide you with many benefits that make it an excellent step for most homeowners, especially those who have some DIY repair and maintenance skills already in hand.
They’ll not only help to make your home a safer and more comfortable place to live but also ensure that you don’t run into long-term damage issues that may impact how well your home’s exterior lasts. These steps are also significant if you plan on selling your home and want it to be as strong as possible for your needs.
Checking and Cleaning the Roof
A home’s roof is a critical part of its overall protection because it helps to keep rain, snow, wind, and other types of weathering problems from impacting you. During the winter, you’re going to experience a pretty rich array of different roof-related issues that will need roof cleaning to manage. Get on top of your roof, remove debris, and check for any broken or missing shingles that may expose it to damage.
Importantly, you need to make sure that you perform roof repairs if you see any damage of this type. Replace your broken shingles with new ones if necessary. Most people should be able to handle the basic steps required when replacing shingles on a roof. Just buy a stack, carefully remove the broken or damaged ones, and add new ones that integrate well with your old types stylistically.
Just as important, you need to perform roof maintenance steps that keep your house safe. Pay attention to dirty gutters and spot areas where they may clog up or get cluttered. Why are your drains clogging up in this way? If you aren’t sure, it may be time to call a professional. These experts will take the time to examine your roof and identify all of the problems causing it to back up on you.
If you have a solar panel system, now is the time to repair it and keep it in great shape. You probably should call an expert unless you have some experience replacing and upgrading panels on a home. That’s because these panels can be rather tricky to remove and may require specialized help to get right. You may also need to pay attention to elements like the solar battery to keep it operating smoothly.
If you spot any leaks in your home and aren’t sure where they originated, it is also time to contact a professional. Leaks typically indicate serious roofing problems that may spread throughout the house as a whole. Tracking down where they begin and end is often a challenge, too, so it is critical to pay attention to this facet to ensure that you don’t end up experiencing any complications as a result.
Preparing Your Air Conditioning Ducts
Your HVAC system is about to start running a lot more when summer starts. A sound central air system helps to keep your home cool and minimizes heat-related illnesses. Since your unit has not been running cold air since winter began, it is crucial to prepare your ducts and your system as a whole to ensure that you don’t experience any troubles with your system’s operation that may impact your health.
Prepare your ducts by cleaning their exterior of any debris that may fall on them, such as various dirt and dust types. Clean the surface to minimize mold and carefully remove any obstructions. If your home is cluttered and your ducts blocked, now is an excellent time to get rid of this junk to keep your HVAC system running as smoothly as possible. Doing so should help make this transition easier.
If you don’t feel comfortable performing any of these steps, make sure to reach out to HVAC contractors who can handle them for you. While you might feel satisfied with basic actions like cleaning your ducts and removing debris, there are other things that you may not feel comfortable doing. And if you call an expert right away, you ensure a minimum chance of severe damage.
For example, you may find yourself needing more Freon for your system just before the summer begins. Adding Freon isn’t necessarily a complex process, it is true. However, it is easy to connect the wrong parts mistakenly or fail to seal the connection properly. Doing so may cause poor Freon distribution and impact how well you can get your HVAC system running again.
Just as importantly, you need to make sure that you call professionals to handle any repairs to the system outside of your capabilities. Yes, you can probably replace the air filter on your system with minimum difficulty and a handful of other items without much of a struggle. However, you also need to make sure that you don’t take any steps that will damage your unit and cause complications.
Getting Expert Plumbing Help
Your home’s pipes and appliances are critical for handling waste, your water needs, and much more. Unfortunately, winter can do a pretty lousy number on the plumbing elements of your home. For example, cold and freezing temperatures may damage your pipes and make them ready to burst. Or frost may cause the pipes to expand or even trigger damage to various appliances throughout your home.
As a result, it is vital to do a top-to-bottom inspection of all of these items and ensure they are appropriately tracked and assessed. Look for problems like cracks in your pipes, problems with appliances, issues with control handles, clogs that may have developed in your pipes, and much more. Whenever possible, try to handle these steps yourself to cut back on your expenses.
For instance, you probably have enough skill to remove clogs from a pipe with specialized tools and drain cleaner. You can also likely replace sink handles, some pipes, and other types of minor elements without a lot of difficult work. If you plan to take these steps, talk to a supply company to learn more about the tools you’ll need and buy whatever they suggest handling these issues as much as possible.
If you feel like you can’t handle these steps at any time, it is probably best to reach out to plumbing services that can help you. An excellent residential plumbing crew is skilled at handling all of these problems without causing any issues. And they can do steps and repairs that may be uncomfortable for you, such as various types of upgrades to your system that will help make it stand out for your needs.
Fixing Up Electrical Concerns
Winter weather has a way of causing electrical problems that may impact how well your home’s system works. For example, winter-related snow and cold can cause damage to wiring and other items that may cause inefficiency troubles and other problems. You must call electrical service professionals to handle these steps for you. DIY electrical repairs are seldom a good idea.
Why? Electricity is hazardous when not properly handled and may cause a higher risk of shock in many people. For instance, you may end up suffering from electrocution if you don’t correctly ground your wires. Some electrocution is not deadly, but many cases will kill. So call an expert who can handle these repairs for you to avoid long-term health problems and other issues.
What other issues may develop if you don’t call a professional to help you? Well, if you work with electricity, you may end up creating a higher risk of fire in your home. How is that possible? Let’s go over a potential scenario to give you an idea of how this may happen. Your home’s exterior electrical elements have been damaged and need upgrading, such as a new plug for your external line.
You feel comfortable installing this plug and do so but don’t correctly ground the line when you plug it in or don’t take other safety steps that electricians would take. As a result, the electrical flow may end up running through your home and spreading rapidly, causing a potential fire risk. Electrical fires are very destructive and dangerous, as the electrical flow may make water usage impossible.
If you had just called an electrical professional to handle these steps for you, you’d ensure that they are conducted without difficulty. You’ll not only get your electrical systems working correctly again but will cut back on the dangers of severe fire damage. Thankfully, most electricians are skilled enough to handle the unique demands that this process puts on them and the home with which they are working.
Other Steps You Should Take
After taking these simple steps for your home, it is crucial to focus on a handful of other options to ensure that your house is as protected and secure as possible. These simple steps are things that just about every homeowner can do without getting expert help. That said, you may still want to reach out to a professional if you have any trouble with these steps. It would help if you also considered reaching out to experts to find equipment that may help you with these steps to make sure that you do them right and don’t make any mistakes.
For example, you’re going to have to pay attention to your home’s many interior elements to ensure that it is adequately prepared for the demands that summer places on you. Your carpets probably need to be cleaned and shampooed to prevent the dangers of various types of molds and fungi. Thankfully, you can rent a simple wet vacuum to perform many of these steps, using a high-quality carpet cleaner to break apart dust and dirt and keep your home’s floors as safe as possible for your needs as a person.
Typically, you need to clean your carpets in this way every 6-12 months, depending on how often you use a room. Areas like a living room probably need it every six months. That said, you can stretch your cleaning schedule out to every 12 months if that feels more comfortable for you. Just remember that you need to make sure that you use the proper tools and various types of deep-cleaning soaps. Doing so will ensure that everything goes as smoothly as possible for you and helps manage your health issues.
Don’t neglect your yard, either, as this area is often something that is easy to ignore if you don’t feel like doing a lot of hard work. For example, you should clean up your grill and any fire pits in your yard. Break apart any stains or dirt that may reside on the surface and carefully minimize the sprawl of potential contamination. Also, make sure that you clean up your deck, repair problems with your garage door, upgrade your windows and standard doors, add new security systems, and take other steps that feel right.
Always Get Help If You are Uncomfortable
It is vital to seriously consider professional help if you don’t feel comfortable performing any or even all of these steps. While many people should do most of these things without difficulty, others may find it more challenging. In some cases, you may find that you cause more damage to your home and end up spending more money getting an expert to do it for you.
When you hire a professional to handle these steps for you, it is possible to cut out the middle competitor and cut back on your overall expenses. You can then get the high-quality home protection and repair level that you need to keep your house as comfortable as possible. Ensure that you do what you can to cut back on expenses but hire experts to do things you cannot.
