10 Tips for Prepping your Home for Fall
With school back in session and with the cool fall weather starting to creep into the forecast, it’s a sign that fall is on the way. For homeowners, this means starting to think about prepping your home for the fall and winter season and performing your fall maintenance tasks. While you probably want to spend your time doing other things with your free time, it is these fall tasks that help keep your home tidy and well prepared for the cold weather.
Here is a list of outdoor and indoor tasks that will allow you to get a head start on fall and be ready if winter decides to grace us with its presence earlier than expected.
Outdoor Checklist
- Aerate and fertilize the lawn: It’s time to start prepping your lawn for the winter season and aerating and fertilizing will prepare your lawn and ensure its in great condition come spring.
- Rake the leaves (once they fall): The leaves will fall eventually, and now is the time to prepare by getting yard waste bags and making sure your rake is up for the job. Or you can recruit someone to do the raking for you! Fall is also the ideal time to trim your trees, bushes, and plants.
- Clean out the eaves: This is one of the most important and commonly overlooked fall chores. Cleaning your eaves ensures you have proper water drainage, reducing the odds of you having water damage and other issues during the winter.
- Do an exterior walk around: Doing an exterior walk around in the spring and in the fall allows you to stay on top of potential issues and address them before they become costly problems. Check things like the weather-stripping around the windows and doors, signs of water damage, the foundation and all other exterior parts of your home.
- Tune up your snow blower: Yes, we know, you don’t want to hear it, but it’s better to give it a tune up now and make sure it works, rather than finding out its not working after a foot of snow falls.
Indoor Checklist
- Check the basement for leaks: The basement is the perfect place to start with your indoor fall checklist. Check the basement for leaks and signs of water damage. If you notice something that appears out of sorts, have it looked at by a professional.
- Get your furnace serviced/ replace the filter: Before the rush starts, now is the ideal time to have your furnace serviced, replace the filter, and check other things like your hot water heater.
- Check smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors: The change in season is the perfect time to check your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors to ensure they are working correctly. Also, check the date to make sure they do not need to be replaced.
- Pull out your fall and winter clothing: It’s that time of the year to get out your favorite sweaters, jackets, and pair of jean and put away your beach clothes for the year. While you sort through, why not make a pile of gently used, but no longer wanted items to donate to charity?
- Make room in the garage for your vehicle: It doesn’t take long for your garage to fill up with stuff during the summer. If you want to avoid having to brush the snow off of your car in the morning this winter, now is the time to make room in the garage.
What steps do you take to get your home ready for fall? Have you started? When do you plan to start working through your list of fall tasks?
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