It's the time of year to spring into action
Spring will be here any day now (I'm hoping). While we likely still have weeks left of unpredictable winter weather, it's not too early to start planning for your spring projects.
Your biggest job in the springtime is to look out for any damage your home accrued over the winter. You're keeping an eye out for things such as missing shingles on the roof and water intrusion appearing inside the home. If you're vigilant, you can catch these things early and take care of them quickly. If all the major systems outside of your home seem to be in good shape, you can get started on some smaller spring tasks.
SPRING MAINTENANCE
These are a few small jobs any homeowner is capable of managing in the springtime to keep their house safe and secure. While bigger jobs require the use of a pro, most of these you should be able to do on your own.
Just like you should have your furnace inspected before the winter sets in, now is a good opportunity to have your air conditioner inspected. The last thing you want is to have a faulty unit that kicks the bucket in the middle of July.
Go around your home and replace any worn caulking around the windows. Use a silicone caulk. It's flexible, so will expand and contract as the house moves. Check your window screens for damage, and when the weather gets a little nicer, remove your storm windows.
Inside the house, you should also check the caulking in your kitchen and bathrooms around sinks, tubs and showers. If any needs to be replaced, you'll want a silicon acrylic or polymer caulking. Generally, you'll see on the packaging if it's meant to be used in your indoor spaces.
Clean the exhaust hood and filter in your kitchen, and vacuum out the fridge coils. This will help both appliances run more efficiently, and in the case of your exhaust reduce the risk of a fire.
Replace the filters in your HVAC system. This is something you should be doing every few months at minimum, but if you haven't all winter, definitely do it now. This is also a good opportunity to replace the batteries in any detectors in your home, and give them a good dusting as well. Once you've done that, give them their monthly test. Don't forget to inspect your fire extinguishers as well. You should have an extinguisher on every level of the home, and in rooms where a fire is more likely to occur, such as the kitchen.