Spring Maintenance Tips

We’ve weathered another winter and spring is now here. Baseball has returned, leaves and blossoms are popping, and it’s time to get out and see what winter did to your home. This article should help provide tips for needed maintenance around the home this time of the year:

1. Have your air conditioning system professionally serviced to make sure it is ready for summer. Air filters should be replaced every 30 days (fiberglass type), about every 90 days (paper pleated type), or yearly (large media type). I recommend, at least, the 90-day pleated air filter. A dirty air filter puts extra wear on your air conditioning system. Ensure there is at least 24″ of clearance on all sides of your exterior compressor unit. Vegetation, stored items, etc. limit air flow that the A/C system needs to work properly. A/C systems should only be run when the exterior temperature is at least 60°F. Read my Energy Saving A/C Tips article for more helpful information.

2. Perform a general exterior inspection of your roof, grading, gutters/downspouts, trim, siding, etc. Winter can do interesting things to your home and its best to find and fix anything now that may increase the chances of leakage or other damage. Make sure your roof covering, roof flashing, stack vent boots, ridge venting, and trim are in good condition. Damage to any of these items can spell a leak. If uncomfortable on a ladder, call a professional. Make sure your gutters and downspouts are clear and discharge, at least, 4′ from the foundation of your home, porch, or deck. Also, check for rotted wood trim around door and windows and make sure whatever siding material(s) your home has (such as vinyl, brick, stone, or stucco) is intact and serviceable. Ensure all joints (such as where siding and trim meet) and penetrations (such as wiring and pipes) are fully sealed using a silicone caulk.

3. Check the exterior grading around your home’s perimeter. This grading should pitch away from your home’s foundation for, at least, 4′ to help channel rain water away from your home, similar to the above mention of downspouts discharging away from your home. Doing so will help prevent rain water from entering your basement during spring and summer rainfalls. Read my “Preventing A Wet Basement” article for tips.

4. Wait until the threat of freezing weather has passed before you turn on your exterior hose bibs or connect a garden hose.

5. Ensure that your home has sufficient insulation in the basement, crawl space, and/or attic. Access panels to unfinished attics should also be properly insulated since these are common locations for heat gain or heat loss. From my experience, attic access panels or doors are almost never insulated. Most homes could use more attic insulation overall to help lower utility costs and increase interior comfort. The current insulation standard for attics in our area is R-49 (minimum). This corresponds to 14″ of cellulose, 16″ of fiberglass batt insulation, or 18″ of blown-in fiberglass. Thickening your attic insulation makes it more difficult for heat from living space to penetrate into your attic (winter) or for attic heat to enter living space (summer). Adding more insulation will pay for itself if done properly.

6. Ensure that your sump pump is working properly. During spring and summer, heavy rainfall is not uncommon. You want to be sure that your sump pump can do its job. If your sump pit has no pump installed but has water accumulation, have a proper sump pump system installed with a check valve and rigid PVC pipe and ensure that its drain discharges outside, at least, 4’ from the foundation. I would also suggest a battery backup system in case a thunderstorm knocks out your power, the backup pump will still run for a period of time. This is especially important in finished basements. Also, many areas have ordinances or codes that forbid discharging sump pumps into the public sewer. Sump pumps should only discharge to grade in your yard.

7. Spring is a good time to re-seed bare spots of your yard. This can also be done in the fall. If reseeding in spring, don’t apply a crabgrass preventer as that will prevent the new grass seed from germinating. Wait until the new grass seed has germinated and grown 4″ before applying a crabgrass preventer. If not re-seeding in your yard, apply a fertilizer/crabgrass preventer in early-to-mid April. Also, pruning trees and plants in early spring is good idea (even better when they are still dormant) to help prepare them for the growing season.

8. Check patios, walkways, and your driveway. Freezing and thawing cycles through winter can cause damage to these walking surfaces. Small cracks can allow water to enter and then the cracks can get larger as the water freezes. Heaving (lifting) can occur for the same reason. This can present a trip hazard. Patching these areas can help prevent the issue from getting worse by preventing further water entry.

9. Inspecting your deck now before it gets more heavy use in the spring and summer is a good idea. From experience, many decks are improperly built and rarely maintained. Each can lead to deck failure, injury, or worse. Improperly built or loose railings and staircases, inadequate connections of the deck to the home, and other structural framing shortcomings are not uncommon with decks. A qualified deck contractor can inspect your deck and make repairs, if needed. Read my Deck Inspections article for more information.

10. Check your windows and exterior doors to ensure that they fully operate as intended and are sealed around their perimeters. I often find traces of daylight entering around an exterior closed door’s perimeter which can lead to cold or hot air entry and places for water or insects to potentially enter the home. Weather-stripping and a proper bottom threshold should exist. Also, ensure that double-hung windows properly open and stay up by themselves. Sticks should not be needed to keep a window open. Windows are an emergency egress method (such as in case of a house fire) so ensuring that windows are functioning properly is a must-do for homeowners and renters. Also, repairing any damaged screens is a good idea since you’ll likely have windows open come spring-time. Screen repair kits are available at hardware stores and repairing a window or door screen is easy to do.

Doing these sort of proactive measures in the spring will allow you to enjoy more time outside relaxing and less time working.

Matthew Steger is a Certified Level 1 Infrared Thermographer, an ASHI Certified Inspector (ACI), and an electrical engineer. He can be reached at matthew@thehomeinspectorsnotebook.com. No article, or portion thereof, may be reproduced or copied without prior written consent of Matthew Steger.