Whatever kind of home you live in, and wherever in the world you happen to be, there are a lot of things that you might want to be aware of and look into to help ensure that you are taking care of your home as best as you can. You also want it to be the best home it can be, which means making it comfortable and exactly the kind of place you want to spend time in. And part of that means making sure that the home is livable in every season.
In this post, we are going to take you through a comprehensive look at what you need to do to ensure that your home is prepared for every season. As long as you have ensured the following, you should find that your home is much better suited all year round, and that makes for a much more enjoyable and comfortable home.
Spring
Let’s start at the beginning of the year, with spring. This season is not one of the most difficult when it comes to home maintenance and care, and yet there are some essential things that you are going to want to look into if you are keen to keep your home as it should be for the rest of the year too. Spring is all about cleanliness – that’s why we have the famous spring cleaning, and this is certainly one of the first things that you should be doing if you are keen on getting your home ready for that season.
You can start by decluttering, which is a wonderful way to freshen up the home ready for a new year. Get rid of everything you haven’t used or even looked at since last spring, and make sure that you are bold and resilient in the process. You should also clean all those nooks and crannies that normally get ignored – remember, this is your chance to really get in there and give the home the deepest clean possible.
Spring is also a good chance to take a look at your wardrobe and clear out some clothing that you don’t think you need anymore. Take those items to charity shops or donate them elsewhere, and enjoy the freed up space in your wardrobe as a result. It’s a great feeling, and a wonderful thing to do as part of your spring cleaning.
After the decluttering and cleaning comes the other main thing that you want to do in spring – organizing. Take a deep dive into those cabinets and workspaces and make sure that they are tidy and organized. This is a great way to improve the experience of being in the home without fail, so it’s certainly something to think about.
And in the garden, you should start planting your seeds or young plants, if that is something you are interested in.
All in all, spring is an enjoyable time, and if you can do these things, you should find that your home is fresh and lively as a result.
Summer
Once it starts heating up, and we are heading into summer, the kinds of preparations you need to make around the home can differ from spring quite a lot. Now it is less about decluttering and cleaning and more about making sure that the home is going to be as comfortable as possible in the heat. Of course, you might live somewhere where it doesn’t get too hot, but in most places you are going to have to at least think about how to keep the home cool.
There are so many ways to do this, and so many things that you might want to therefore focus on in order to make sure you are doing it right. It’s best to start with the exterior, and see if there is anything there that you might want to change to help keep your home cool. For instance, take a look at the roof. Metal roofing is generally much better for keeping cool, so you might want to consider that if you haven’t got it already. You should also just make sure that the roof is generally fixed up and in a good state of repair.
Now is also the time to check out your cooling systems and make sure that they are working. If you have an air conditioning system, for instance, give them a service, and make sure that they are in full operation as soon as possible, and before it gets too hot. Any ceiling fans should be set to summer mode in preparation. You should make sure that the vents are clear and dry, and that you have plenty of opportunity for airflow around the home too.
Finally, in the garden, it’s time to plant out many of your young seedlings, and to ensure that they are well-established for the summer months. In particular, be ready to keep up with the watering, as you don’t want them to dry out as it heats up.
Fall
When fall comes around, you are going to find that the approach you need to take to your home maintenance suddenly changes quite a lot. You have just had the fullness of summer and now things are starting to wind down a little, and in this in-between stage you might find yourself feeling that there are not that many things you need to be doing. In truth, however, this part of the year is a little like spring, in that it’s a kind of clean-up and preparatory stage, and the more you can make it, the easier the winter will be.
Let’s start in the garden to show you what we mean. Most of the work you will do in the garden in fall is all about cleaning up. You will probably have a lot of leaves that need sweeping up and getting rid of, ideally mulching in your compost. You’ll probably also need to cut back some perennials in time for winter, so that they survive the worst of the cold. And now is the perfect time to start planting bulbs for any pretty flowers that you might want to pop up in spring.
But it’s not just about the garden. There is plenty inside the home that you are going to want to think about too. If you have not had a good deep clean since the spring clean, then fall can be a great time to do that again. You might find that there are all sorts of dirty corners and so on that need attending to, so it’s definitely a good idea to take a look at those as soon as possible. It’s also time for pest removal – pests love to move in around this time, so make sure that you are humanely and safely dealing with them as best as you can before they nest and really make it a home of their own.
If you have done all that, you are going to be in a good position to think about winter when the time comes.
Winter
Finally, we have winter. Here you are going to find that there is much less to do, and most of what you need to focus on is to do with keeping warm and being cozy. That’s why the first job as it gets into winter is to make sure that you have the appropriate heating in place, whatever that might be in your home – as it can of course vary from home to home.
If you have a fireplace, you should start collecting, chopping and stacking your wood if you haven’t already. Ideally this will be from the previous year, and it will already have been seasoned and properly dried. If you just have normal central heating, it’s a good idea to bleed the system before you start using it, and to make sure that you are having your boiler serviced as soon as possible, just in case there might be any problems arising with it. Getting a new heat pump through heat pump installers palmerston north is just as important. All in all, that is going to make for a much nicer winter already.
You should also have the plumbing checked out, because some pipes can go through a lot of stress during winter, especially if it gets particularly cold. You’ll have to make sure that you are keeping a small amount of hot water going through them on cold nights, so that they don’t freeze and crack. Winter is also a good time to think about fixing up any patches there might be in the roof or walls of the house, so it doesn’t get too cold, and make sure that your windows are fixed properly and working as they should too.
In the garden, simply keep on top of cleanliness – but apart from that, there is very little to do except keep the frost off any bulbs you might have planted in the fall.
As you can see, there is a lot to consider, so be sure to pay attention to all of this if you want to keep your home comfortable.
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