Time for 2024.  I hope 2023 was a good year for you and your home.

Every year I like to give you a little calendar to help you keep up with what home maintenance should be done when.  Note, this is not a “Do it by then or else” scenario, rather a “This is a nice time to have this checked out” guide.  Plus – a lot of these ideas don’t need to be done every year, so it’s a chance for you to get caught up or – gasp – ahead on some of your home chores.

So, let’s get to work.

January – March:  It’s a great time to have your favorite heating and cooling company out to make sure your furnace is tuned up to get you through the winter months.

And while we are looking at heating, let’s look at insulation too.  It’s a waste of money to pay to heat your indoor air by running your furnace, only to have it quickly leak out of your house.  Proper insulation will help you keep your conditioned air in your house longer which will save you money on your energy bill.

Might be a good time to get a free roof analysis as well with rainy months approaching.  Nothing ruins your stuff faster than water pouring through your leaky roof.  Bonus – you can often find great roofers who will do this for free.

Other things you may want to start exploring are your outdoor structures – your storage shed, your deck – those sorts of things.  True you don’t need them immediately, but sometimes the wait list is so long to get them you might be happy if you started looking into them now.

Now is also a great time to get your yard and gardening tools sharpened and tuned-up for the upcoming growing season.

April – June:  It’s a great time to have your favorite heating and cooling company out to make sure your air conditioning unit is tuned up to get you through the upcoming summer months.  Sound familiar?  Yeah, your favorite hvac people are good to get to know.

Your garage door could use some attention about now as well. Your garage door is a great barrier between your house and the heat that is coming in a few months so it pays to make sure it is ready to perform. A complete garage door tune-up is generally under $100 and takes only 90 minutes or so.

If you have never had your ductwork cleaned, or if it has been 5-7 years since you had, now is a great time for that.  Clean ducts are happy ducts, free of dust and pollen and general day to day yuck that they collect over the years.  Your lungs will thank you.

Also, and this needs to be a yearly thing, getting your dryer vent cleaned needs to be on your to-do list and now is a great time to get that done.  Clogged dryer vents reduce the efficiency of your dryer and can pose a fire risk.  Yes, you can do this yourself especially if your vent run is short and without turns.  If it’s not, a duct cleaning company will be happy to help you.

Another thing that would be a good time to get started and sooner rather than later is getting your house painted.  April and May are great months to get this project rolling (if you haven’t already).  By now we will be in perfect house coating months.  By June, rainy season and pollen season will be behind us and you will enjoy a new shine to your home.

Select something for your home that is durable and that lasts a long time and you can cross this off your list for many years to come.

One other monster that is lurking out there with hot, humid months on the horizon is your crawlspace.  Get the ball rolling on having it encapsulated and the rest of your house will enjoy the summer months even more.

July – September:  We should be cruising along pretty good by now.  This may be the perfect time to call your favorite electrician out to give your home’s electrical system a thorough inspection.  You may also want to explore having whole house surge protection installed to help your system during big electrical storms.  It’s a one-day process, maybe not even that long and will help keep your valuable and important electrical equipment (tv, computer, appliances, tv, health equipment, tv) from getting zapped by a random surge in the grid.

While we are on that train of thought, you might want to look into a whole house generator.  These beauties use natural gas (or propane) to make electricity should the grid go down.  They click on automatically when they sense your electricity gets knocked out, and run until it is restored.

They are affordable and can be very important if someone in the house needs electrical devices for health care reasons.

October – December:  It’s a great time to have your favorite heating and cooling company out to make sure your furnace is tuned up to get you through the winter months.

And while we are looking at heating, let’s look at insulation too.  It’s a waste of money to pay to heat your indoor air by running your furnace, only to have it quickly leak out of your house.  Proper insulation will help you keep your conditioned air in your house longer which will save you money on your energy bill.

This is a good time to call out your favorite plumber to inspect your pipes (ok – your house’s pipes) and make sure all looks good for the upcoming winter season. Also ask them for some tips on how to keep your pipes from freezing and bursting and where the water cut-off is for your house in case you do have issues.

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