Your Home’s Summer Maintenance Checklist

Summertime, everyone’s favorite season for enjoying barbecues, pool parties or an ice-cold drink under the shade of a large umbrella. But as temperatures heat up and thoughts of weekend camping trips to the mountains or a coastal vacation begin to occupy your thoughts, there are a few tasks that should be taken care of first. Taking care of summer home maintenance now means that, later during the season, you can kick-back and relax as oppose to worrying about what state your home is in during the hottest months of the year. So before you start working on your tan or packing your bags for a get-away, check out this summer maintenance checklist and take advantage of the dry skies to make sure your property is in tip-top shape.

Inside Your Home

Clean Your Dryer Vent and Exhaust Duct: With the weather warming up, the kids being home for a few months and suitcases being full of dirty clothes, the amount of laundry you have to take care of probably increases significantly during the summer. Stay ahead of any potential safety hazards, like house fires, by ensuring your dryer vent and exhaust vent are clean and clear from lint, dust and debris.

Schedule Your Annual Chimney Cleaning: if you have a chimney in your home, it needs to be cleaned annually either during the spring or summer. If you haven’t already, call a professional cleaning service to give your chimney a good sweep, remove creosote build-up and check for any damages so you can take necessary steps for repair.
Inspect Your Window Seals: Make a thorough round of your home, checking all your windows for drafts or patches of noticeable temperature difference. If you notice that this is an issue, it may be time to have your windows resealed. Resealing your windows can help ensure that you keep cool air inside your home and hot air out.
Test Your Smoke Alarms and Carbon Monoxide Detectors: while these are preventative tools for homeowners, they aren’t much good to you if the batteries are dead or the plastic devices are too outdated to function properly. It’s smart to check all alarms once a year to help keep you and your loved ones safe.

Outside Your Home

Inspect Your Home’s Exterior: Now that you’ve given the inside of your home a thorough once over, it is time to do the same for your home’s exterior. Inspect around the perimeter of your home, checking for any damages that may have occurred during the winter months. Make note of any siding pieces that need to be replaced or repaired.
Clean and/or Repair Your Gutters: It’s possible that dealing with a house’s gutters might be the most dreaded task of homeowners everywhere, however it is also one of the most important. Protect your home from water damage by ensuring water can flow correctly away from your rooftop. To do this a while saving yourself from backbreaking work, call in experienced professionals to inspect, repair and efficiently clean your gutters regardless of type or height of the gutter.

Pressure Washing: Take advantage of the turn in weather and give your home a bath. Pressure/power washing is an excellent way to freshen up your house’s siding, deck, patio, driveway, sidewalks and other hardscapes on the property. By calling an experienced company to take care of the pressure washing, the best equipment and methods are used for dramatic results without potential for damage.
Wash The Windows: Is there anything worse than throwing open the curtains to a beautiful sunny morning scene only to have it obscured by dirty windows and hard water spots? Avoid such a scenario from playing out by having your windows professionally cleaned, polished and resealed for this summer.

Treat Wood Siding: If you have wood siding, summer is the perfect time to have your home’s siding either sealed or resealed. This is a crucial step for preventing rot and decay of the wood as well as improving overall appearances and should only be completed by someone with a trained hand and eye. Once properly sealed, a wood treatment can last several years and makes the annual cleaning and inspection that much easier to accomplish.
Landscaping: Last but not least, it’s time to really take a look at your home’s landscaping. Pull out the lawn mower and weed-eater from the backyard shed, grab some fresh mulch and weed-killer from your nearby garden store and plant those potted plants you’ve had sitting on your porch step since the last “spring-madness sale”.

This summer, make preparing your home for the hottest season of the year easy by giving your trusted local professionals, Snugs Services, a call. From cleaning dryer vents, to gutter repair to pressure washing, you can relax and enjoy your summer knowing that Snugs has got you covered!

Snugs Pro Wash, Inc, dba SNUGS Services, has been providing high quality Pressure Washing Services in Portland, OR since 1995. Started as a residential pressure washing and roof cleaning service, SNUGS is now one of the leading exterior cleaning companies in the Northwest. From our humble beginnings as a man with a truck and a trailer we have grown to become a multi-million dollar company serving corporate customers, name brands, and mom and pop companies alike.

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