Summer’s here, and your excuses for not getting more done around the house has left with the snows and freezing rain of winter. The sun is out, the weather is great, and you now are faced with the great challenge that every homeowner must face when summer arrives: deciding on summer projects to help maintain your home and even increase its value. This can see like a daunting task at first, but it is in fact quite simple and easy to do if you don’t allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of everything at once. Break down your tasks into simple DIY projects that you can tackle over the several months spanning summer and you’ll be done in no time and ready for more! So what tasks make the best summer tasks, then?
1. Gutter Cleaning Time!
Your gutters do a lot of work to keep your home healthy and strong, even as they are out of sight and largely out of mind. Come the end of spring and the start of summer, however, they have seen quite a bit of harsh weather and debris, and need a good cleaning if they are to continue doing that hard work for you. Clean out any clogs in your gutters, scrubbing them out to make sure they aren’t just clean but sparkling – otherwise you may end up with stains later!
2. Fill in the Cracks
The changing temperatures over the course of the seasons can cause concrete and the elements used to make up your home’s exterior to crack. Both need to be dealt with. The concrete making up your driveway, patio, sidewalk, and any other surface you frequent will need to have its cracks cleaned out and caulked, as will the exterior, be it the space around windows and doors or the slats that make up the exterior.
3. Deal With Your Deck
Your deck is where you likely spend quite a bit of your leisure time, relaxing alone or entertaining guests. Unfortunately, if it is like most other decks out there, it is made of wood. Well, that’s not unfortunate, exactly – wood is a great material that is rustic, natural, and just a great material to craft any living space out of. However, that same wood can bend, warp, and crack over the course of a year. You’ll want to scrub the dirt off your deck and then put a fresh coat of sealer on it every summer, including this one!
4. Winter is Coming
Winter just ended – you don’t have to worry about that for months yet, right? Well, not exactly. Now is actually the best time to get many of your winter preparations out of the way. Specifically, any improvements that you want to make to your home and lawn have to be made now, not during the winter, as it can be incredibly inconvenient and even impossible to make those improvements during the colder months. Plan ahead and you will have no regrets!
There is more you could tend to, from repaving to repairing your roof to re-insulating your home in preparation for the colder months that are inevitably to come. The project or projects you choose to work on are up to you; just make sure you get the most out of this time, as it will soon be past!
+Ken Uhrich is never bored come summertime! He regularly blogs and gives home improvement tips on the Custom Home Group website.
