Fall Home Maintenance

This week marks the official start of fall, and the leaves are turning beautiful shades of yellow, red and orange. There is a chill is in the air, and with the recent cooler temperatures, one can’t help but be reminded that another winter season is just around the corner.

In preparation of the colder days (and weeks) ahead, we thought it would be helpful to list some fall maintenance tips to assist you in preparing both your home and garden.

Your Home

Interior:

• Apply weather stripping to windows and doors and caulk as necessary
• Have your heating system checked and serviced, and turn up as necessary
• Have your wood stove and/or fireplace inspected to ensure in good working condition
• Check your electrical outlets for potential fire hazards (frayed wires, overloaded outlets, etc.)
• Test your sump pump to ensure in good working condition
• Change the direction of your ceiling fan(s) to distribute warm air from the ceiling
• Test the batteries in your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors
• Check your fire extinguishers, and have them serviced as necessary

Exterior

• Check your foundation, driveway and sidewalks for cracks
• Caulk around exterior doors and windows as necessary
• Inspect your roof for missing or loose shingles or other damage
• Clean your gutters and downspouts (especially after all of the leaves have fallen)
• Check the joints on your downspouts and ensure they around pointed away from your foundation (recommended 3-4 feet away)
• Weather strip your garage door

Deck

• Check your stairs and railings for loose boards or damage
• Clear your deck or patio of furniture and cover and store as needed
• Empty pots and planters of soil

Your Garden

• Mulch leaves when you do a final mowing/fertilizing of your lawn
• Drain your lawn irrigation system
• Organize and clear your garage or shed to store your garden tools and equipment
• Prepare your lawn equipment for storage by draining fuel from mowers, leaf blowers, etc.
• Drain your garden hoses and store inside
• Shut off your outdoor water valves
• Prepare your lawn ornaments for storage and bring inside
• Inspect bird feeders and fill as necessary
• Check to make sure your snow equipment is in good working condition before the first snow fall
• Re-stock winter supplies, such as salt, shovels, ice scrapers, etc. as necessary

The fall is also a great time to take care of some of that pesky housecleaning, such as:

• laundering your drapes and curtains
• laundering your bedspreads and comforters
• vacuuming your mattresses and box springs
• wash your windows (or better yet, have someone come do it for you!)
• vacuum under beds and furniture
• clean behind your stove and fridge
• clean out your dryer vent
• clean your light fixtures and replace burnt out bulbs
• touch up interior paint as required (now is a good time while it’s not too cold to open up your windows)

Hopefully you have found these maintenance tips helpful. If you have any great tips that we didn’t mention here, we would love to hear about them! Please send them to us crista@costeninsurance.com.

Thank you,

The Costen Insurance Team