Top 5 Tips for Maintaining Your Home for Spring
This is the post I promised.
Remember back in February, I asked “when was the last time you gave your home all the Tender Loving Care it deserved?” That was just in time for Valentines Day. I eluded to the next post.
This post is all about preparing your home on the outside for spring and summer, so it’s looking its best, and climbing in value.
Your home should be working as hard for you (appreciation), as you do taking care of it!
Here’s our top 5 tips to use as a guide to keep your home appreciating… that is, your home keeps appreciating YOU!
Tip 1. Make your home shine. If the exterior siding material of your home is conducive to pressure washing, give your home a nice clean look. By removing unwanted mildew from the more-dormant-weather sides of your home, you’re extending the life of the paint and your siding. This is a great time to do a thorough inspection of your home’s painted surfaces and assess what painting to plan for.
Tip 2. Get a head start on collecting painting bids. From past experience, the good painting contractors are already getting booked up for spring and summer painting season. Now is a great time to collect estimates on your home’s painting needs and get it scheduled. Why not be the best looking home on your block?!
Tip 3. Get your landscaping under control now… before the blooms start coming out. When shrubs and trees are within a few inches of the exterior walls of your home’s siding, eves or soffits, it’s time to prune them back. Having at least a 12” buffer is good, but in some cases even more clearance is better. This buffer will eliminate vegetation from being a pathway for pests, and keep your home infestation free. This buffer welcomes healthy natural-light and free-flowing air around the siding of your home, preventing mildew and unwanted moisture build-up.
Tip 4. Inspect the soil levels close to your foundation. Re-grade soil level next to the foundation of your home. It should be at least 6″ below the nearest wood siding, and slope away from your foundation. Seasonal rains and drainage tend to move dirt around near the edges of the house. Heavy drainage patterns can leave the soil grade slanted toward the home’s foundation…leading to water intrusion problems for your window wells, basements and crawl spaces. Additionally…When soil accumulates close to wood siding or wood foundation materials, this invites wood destroying organisms into wood, and can cause expensive, hidden, rot issues for you down the road.
Tip 5. Now, the fun part. There is nothing that makes a home look better from the street than some fun splashes of spring color. Time to go shopping at your favorite nursery. While it’s still too early for hanging baskets for the front porch, it’s prime time for daffodils, tulips and hyacinths and crocus. Some front porch designs lend themselves especially well to large potted flower displays. Alternatively, your home, and your neighborhood perhaps, offer you the sidewalk border planting areas which when filled with color, makes your home look like you are all ready for Easter.
Get a jump on spring home maintenance, inside and out! When the weather finally warms a bit… you’ll be all ready for weekends off, chores-free and guilt-free play time…leaving your home looking its best and loving you!
Last… if you are thinking of selling your home this spring or summer…curb appeal starts marketing your home way before you ever list your home for sale. Making your home look its best from the street, gets admirers to take note. A small investment of time and energy into colorful spring landscaping, pays big dividends at the closing table.
As Guides to Urban Living, we welcome your questions about home maintenance, ideas on high ROI upgrades, and of course understanding the current value of your home in today’s dynamic real estate market. Please feel free to reach out to us any time.