Fall Maintenance

As fall and winter approaches, start thinking about getting your home ready for the cold and severe weather to come. Use the below list of typical homeowner maintenance items to get ready.

Gutters and downspouts - clean gutters and downspouts, and check that all downspouts are securely connected, and that water discharges about 6ft away from the house to a slope graded away from the house.

Heating systems - Schedule an annual maintenance visit before technicians are swamped with winter furnace and boiler installs. Plan on doing this annually or at least every other year.

Filters - Check and replace the Forced Hot Air filter if needed. Use this as a prompt to also check/replace filters at the fridge, humidifiers/dehumidifiers and range hoods.

Fire safety - Test and replace batteries in your smoke and CO detectors. If you have a fireplace, get the chimney cleaned and inspected.

Change fan direction - If you have room fans, you want the blades to push down the rising warm air in winter - that usually means they rotate in a clockwise direction.

Mulch - for the gardeners, give your plants a winter blanket, just remember to maintain a few inches gap between mulch and siding. 

Outside faucets - close the shutoff valve(s) in the basement and leave the faucets cracked open. Or consider a frost free all-weather faucet.

Outdoors - Cover your AC compressor (optional) and turn it off at the mains to save electricity. Cover outdoor furniture, BBQ and firewood. Repair gaps and cracks in driveways and walks. And of course - check your snow blower is working.