Maintenance for Your Home: What To Do and When

Whether you have a brick or stone house, live in the city, or a farmhouse in the country, your home’s heating, cooling, and plumbing keep your home humming.

Creating an annual home maintenance checklist is a great way to keep your home in top condition year-round. Take a look at this annual home maintenance schedule.

Annual Home Maintenance Tips For Winter

1. Inspect your home’s water heater. Hot showers are a must in winter! Get a professional inspection of your water heater or conduct your own by flushing the tank to remove sediment, inspecting the pipes for leaks, and testing the pressure relief valve.
2. Clean vents. Help your heating system work more efficiently by clearing vents of furniture and rugs.
3. Clean air filters. Air filters pull airborne pollutants from your home. Clogged filters force your system to work inefficiently.
4. Inspect plumbing. Look for leaks and insulate pipes exposed to an outdoor wall to prevent freezing.

Annual Home Maintenance Tips For Spring

1. Check your hose bibs for leaks. Spring watering season is upon us. Ensure your hoses and bibs have survived winter without cracking or failed seals.
2. Perform sump pump maintenance. Make sure your sump pump is ready to tackle spring showers.
3. Service your HVAC system. Before the weather turns hot and humid, schedule your AC tune-up so you can identify issues and feel confident in its function.
4. Clean gutters and downspouts. Be ready for spring downpours. Clogged gutters will force water to go behind your gutter system and into your home’s drywall, impacting your home’s landscaping and foundation.

Annual Home Maintenance Tips For Summer

1. Ensure HVAC unit is free from debris. Prune trees and shrubs that can impede your home’s outdoor HVAC unit. Also clear debris, leaves, and other obstructions.

2. Reverse the direction of your ceiling fans. In the summer, you want the blades to turn counterclockwise at a higher speed. This creates a wind-chill effect that makes the air feel cooler. The counterclockwise rotation pushes air straight down, circulating the cool air from your AC more effectively throughout the room.
3. Inspect and clean your HVAC units. Proper maintenance is key to keeping your heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system running efficiently all summer long.
4. Check the humidity levels inside your home. Some home air conditioning units can’t correct the humidity level in your home, and homeowners may opt to install a portable humidifier or whole-home humidification system.  

Annual Home Maintenance Tips For Fall

1. Test your home’s smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. October is Fire Safety Month and a great reminder to change batteries in your fire and safety devices.
2. Winterize your exterior pipes and faucets. In late fall, turn off your outdoor water and bleed the lines as freezing temperatures are on the horizon.
3. Conduct a heating system check. You likely haven’t switched from air conditioning to heat yet, but now is the sweet spot to inspect your home’s heating system. A professional tune-up will ensure your heating system works at its best when it is called to kick in!
4. Change your air filters. Inspecting and changing them every three to six months is a good idea, especially after a heavy season of pollen and dust.

CHOOSE RUSSO BROS. & CO. FOR AC SERVICES IN NORTHERN NEW JERSEY

Your home requires maintenance for every season. When you need help completing your to-do list or find an issue working through your maintenance plan, call the experts at Russo Bros. & Co. 

We are your reliable home service solutions provider in Essex, Morris, Union, or Passaic County. For over 65 years, our family-operated company has worked with our neighbors to deliver the best for their HVAC and plumbing needs.