Caring For Your Home: Summer Maintenance

Caring for Your Home: Summer Maintenance

Performing routine home maintenance throughout the year will keep your home in top condition, and summer is no exception. Follow these simple tips to keep your home cool and comfortable. Regular home maintenance is also an important step to prevent costly repairs and maintain your home’s value.

Exterior maintenance 

• Inspect and adjust your sprinkler systems. Set your timers for the summer season to ensure enough, but not too much water per station. 

• Clean and repair gutters. Make sure gutters are free of material that could prevent the free flow of water. 

• Add mulch to flower beds to reduce weeds and help your lawn retain moisture. 

• Fill in low areas around your yard with additional soil to prevent pooling water. 

• Check the exterior drainage conditions to ensure that nothing is causing water to stand in puddles for more than 24 hours, and that water from any source is not draining toward your foundation. 

Interior

• Clean or replace air condition filters. Replace filters every time you pay the utility bill for an easy way to remember to change your filters monthly. 

• If you haven’t done so lately, test smoke and CO2 alarms and replace batteries if needed.

• Check your GFCIs (ground fault circuit interrupters) for proper operations by tripping the circuit interrupter buttons and then resetting them. If they will not trip and reset, contact Customer Care for service or information on what to do. 

• Inspect and clean all weep holes for water drainage (window).

Caulking maintenance

Twice a year, inspect and repair the following caulked areas as necessary: 

• Kitchen and bath wet areas 

• Flushing areas 

• Window and door seals 

• Around all penetrations (hose, faucets, duct work from vents, fireplace and chimney vents) 

• Vinyl, aluminum or wood siding 

• Stucco or mortar cracks 

• Interior settling or shrinkage sheetrock cracks

Learn more: Tips for maintaining your HVAC system