Early Summer Home Maintenance Checklist for June

Ahhh June, the gateway to the start of summer vacations, some great BBQ’s, spending time with the family, and probably working on a to-do list that is a mile long. In all honesty, while summer does not officially start until the 21^st, it sure does feel like it has been here for a while.  The days are getting longer, the sun is out in full force, and the AC unit is kicking on with greater frequency.

Before we get to June’s checklist, we would like to offer a few words of advice. Starting with your safety, we urge you to protect your skin and eyes, with sun block, sunglasses, and working in the shade as much as possible. Secondly, we would also like to remind you to stay hydrated during the summer, as dehydration, sunstroke and other related issues are not only not fun, but can be deadly. Last but definitely not least as far as your health is concerned, while it may be hot out there, make sure you are wearing the proper clothing, and using any needed protection devices. (i.e. Gloves, Ear Plugs, Dust Masks, Safety Glasses, etc…)

In the construction industry, summer and winter are two of the biggest times when productivity drops on most crews that primarily work outside. In many cases, we try to schedule interior renovations during the summer & winter months and the exterior projects in early spring or fall. So you may be asking, what does this have to with me? Well, many people like to make these huge to-do lists or start a huge summertime project(s), and commonly run into problems.

We would like to suggest that you create that list, mark down what needs to be done, what you would like to get done, and prioritize those items on it. After you are done creating that list, take a long hard look at it and figure out what you think you can realistically be completed & chop it in half. If you happen to get that completed, then you can always do more. The upside to this is, that you will still feel good about accomplishing some needed tasks, and by not putting too much pressure on oneself; you will hopefully avoid taking shortcuts, pushing yourself to hard, or taking on to many projects that you will regret later.

In keeping with all of this, we have tried to keep the summer checklists as small as possible. I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable summer.

Maintenance Checklist

• Change out your HVAC filter.
• Test your Smoke Detector
• Time to clean out your dryer vents
• If you didn’t do this back in January, check your washing machine lines & replace if they are showing any signs of deterioration – in many cases if they are over 5 years old, you might want to replace them. (You know they always like failing when you are on vacation, right?)
• Check back over the last few months of Maintenance Checklists & catch up on them as needed
• After any storms have passed, make sure you perform a walk-around, looking for damage that needs to be fixed, clogged gutters, or area’s where water is not draining away properly

Gardening & Grounds Checklist

• Garden, Planting & Flowering Beds
  • Keep removing weeds from your garden
  • Watch for signs of insects and deal with appropriately
  • Watering your garden – if there wasn’t enough rain, you should soak your garden once a week
    • The best time is generally early in the AM
    • The idea is to let the water soak in, not just flood it & leave puddles
    • If you do not have a drip irrigation system, I have had great success by hooking up soaker houses & leaving the hose in the garden all summer long
  • Dead-head any flowers that have enjoyed their moment in the sun and are dying, this will allow the energy they were using to be used by others
  • It is not too late to plant melons, corn, beans, peas, etc…
• Lawns
  • If you water your lawns – a deep watering once or twice a week is better than daily watering
    • As stated above, you want the water to soak in, not puddle and evaporate
    • The best time is also early in the AM
  • Grass should be mowed weekly now, or in some cases twice a week
    • Your mower deck should probably be 3” to 4” off the ground depending on the grass species – this helps hold in the moisture, and prevents weeds from flourishing
    • You should not be cutting off more than about an inch of growth
  • Bare spots – you might want to figure out what the culprit is & try to remedy it
  • Weeds – Pluck’em & Trash’em will prevent them from ever coming back
• Miscellaneous
  • Remove sick or dead trees and shrubs.
  • After any large storm, check for damaged or broken limbs & trim them up
  • After any large storm, also check for any small bushes or trees that have been knocked over or are leaning – restake them as necessary

Other items to consider

• A week before heading out on the road, perform what the military calls a PMCS of your vehicle. That stands for Preventive Maintenance Checks and Services or as we used to joke around – Park the Mother and Call the Shop
  • If you have not had your oil changed recently, bring it in to get it changed and the vehicle checked out
  • Check your tires for uneven wear, tread depth
  • Check your windshield wiper blades
  • Check all the fluids in your vehicle and look for leaks
• Going Camping – check out our Vacation & Camping Checklist
• Grill Safety
  • Before firing up your grill for the first time, perform a thorough cleaning & check all the fittings and hoses – along those lines, make sure your grill is far enough away from the house or other flammable surfaces
  • Every time before you fire up your grill, check to make sure nothing was left in there, put in there or moved in there

As always, please stay safe; if you feel uncomfortable, do not understand how to complete a task, etc… please call in a professional.

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