Quick Home Maintenance Tips

Keeping up to date on your home maintenance saves you money in the long run.  Small projects such as the ones listed below are preventative in nature and help to avoid costly home renovation repairs and will keep energy costs in check.  Give yourself the peace of mind knowing your home is ready for winter in Calgary.

 

Maintain Your Gutters 

Your rain gutters and downspouts are a very important system designed to collect water and divert it away from the house to keep it dry and safe.  It is crucial that they function properly, especially during the harsh winter months.  First, clean leaves and debris out of gutters and downspouts to ensure there are no restrictions to proper drainage.  Also, inspect the overall condition of the troughs and downspouts for signs of leaking and sagging.  Pay careful attention to where the water exits the downspouts to be sure that all water is diverted well away from your homes foundation.  Repair or replace any areas that aren’t performing properly before the cold weather sets in.  A properly functioning gutter system will protect your homes roofing and cladding materials from water and ice damage during the harsh Calgary winter cycles of snow, chinook, freeze, repeat.

 

Inspect Exterior for Gaps

As the nights get cooler, the critters outside start looking for a warm, safe place to winter.  Mice are flexible and can enter your home through a gap or hole as small as 1/4″.  Inspect the perimeter of your home and eliminate any small holes or gaps.  Caulking, expanding foam insulation, or steel wool are three options that work well to fill such gaps until a permanent repair can be made.  Inspect any air intakes to ensure the screens are intact.  Don’t forget to do the same inspection on your garage, and even your hot tub as mice are notorious for nesting in the warm safe environment your spa can provide.

 

Door and Window Maintenance

Any faults our homes, doors and windows may have will be magnified during the long winter months in Calgary.  Typically a homes windows will need replacing about every twenty years, but in the meantime they will require some TLC to keep them operating at their full potential.  Inspect all tem perimeter seals on exterior doors to confirm that the seals are intact, free from gaps, and still flexible enough to perform a suitable seal.  On some entrance doors it may be possible to adjust the latch plate position to pull the door in closet to the seals to eliminate a draft.  Don’t forget your garage door, it’s large size presents many opportunities for costly air leaks to develop.  Any window that opens will need its seals inspected as well.  Pay close attention to how the window opens and closes, clean out any debris or dirt that keeps it from operating smoothly and lubricate any mechanisms that seem sluggish.

 

Prepare Your Furnace

After a lazy spring and summer it’s time to whip that furnace back info shape for the cold winter months ahead.  Have your homes heating system inspected to make sure all the components are in tip top condition.  Change the air filter and keep a supply of spare air filters so they can be changed monthly.  Fall is also a good time to have the ducts cleaned or accumulations of dust and debris, after all, how long has it been since  they were last cleaned?  If we are honest, it’s been a while.

 

These are some simple but necessary home maintenance projects to undertake around your home this fall  that can help give you a trouble free winter season, the peace of mind that comes from being prepared and potentially save you from a home renovation.   As we reach the end of another beautiful Calgary summer and enter cooler weather it is now time to prepare ourselves, and our homes for the inevitable, another Alberta winter.  Complete these simple home maintenance guidelines to help your home have a trouble free winter season.