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Nothing says summer like warm weather, pool parties, and barbecues. But if you’re not sure what should be on your summer home maintenance checklist, we have you covered. From opening up your pool to checking your AC filters, we’ve included all the essentials.
This comprehensive summer home maintenance checklist will show you everything you need to do for the season, whether it’s in your backyard or inside your bedroom.
There’s not a whole lot you need to do to prepare the inside of your home for summer beyond your regular home maintenance. Additional maintenance tasks involve cooling down your home and managing warmer temperatures.
Your summer home maintenance checklist should include the following:
Change your air conditioning filter: Change the filter at least every 90 days. If you have allergies, you may even want to change the filter once a month.
Clean vents, air ducts, and exhaust fans: Since air quality degrades during the summer, make sure you start off with clean vents and ducts. Clean ducts also help reduce wear and tear on your AC (including prematurely clogged filters).
Reverse your ceiling fans to move counterclockwise: This creates a downdraft that can make you feel cooler while you’re in the room.
Swap out winter bedding for lighter linens: No need to sweat in winter flannel. Reach for breathable fabrics like linen or cotton.
Inspect your window treatments to ensure they adequately block out the sun: According to Energy.gov, choosing medium-colored drapes with white plastic backing can reduce heat gains by 33%.
Check the dishwasher, faucets, toilets, and showerheads for leaks: Frozen winter conditions can cause leaks and make your plumbing work harder. Now’s the time to get them fixed.
Clean your refrigerator and freezer coils: Don’t stress your refrigerator in the season of energy-driven power outages. Clean the freezer coils—and the rest of your fridge while you’re at it.
Vacuum your dryer vent: You can DIY dryer vent cleaning or hire a pro to clean it out, but plan to tackle this task once a year to prevent a house fire.
Check your home for mold: Summer months are typically humid, and mold can pop up in damp places. Inspect your home for mold and call a mold remediation specialist to help thoroughly remove this unhealthy nuisance.
Now that winter and spring are through, you can tackle exterior maintenance projects you couldn’t do during wet or frozen weather.
Yes, the sunshine isn’t just good for the soul—it’s good for home maintenance, too. Take your summer clothes out of storage, put on some sunscreen, and get to it.
Follow this exterior home maintenance checklist and tips for summer:
Inspect your home’s siding: Look for rotting, loose, or damaged siding and hire a siding contractor to make repairs if necessary.
Power wash your siding: Clean any dirt or debris that has built up over the previous seasons.
Touch up your home’s exterior paint: Summer is the ideal season to touch up your home’s exterior paint. Just make sure rain isn’t in the forecast.
Wash your windows: Clean your windows inside and out, and recaulk or fix the weather-proofing if necessary. This will help increase your energy efficiency.
Clean your gutters: It’s time to remove the debris that has collected in your gutters during the rainiest season.
Inspect your foundation for cracks and leaks: Foundation cracks can lead to flooding and even higher levels of radon gas.
Inspect and service your AC unit: Call a professional to manage your HVAC system when the season changes.
Clean outdoor furniture: A good scrub-down can make outdoor furniture ready for summer relaxing.
Clean and reseal your patio or deck: If your patio or deck needs resealing, do it while the temperatures are warm and dry.
Inspect your fencing: Search for any damage and make the necessary repairs.
Make other exterior repairs: You can hire a local handyperson to make minor exterior repairs, like patching damaged gutters or replacing a rusted screen door.
Check your garage for hazardous materials: It can be easy to store items like paint, chemicals, or solvents in the garage, but when combined with the summer heat, they could become dangerous. Find a stable, moderate-temperature place to store these for the season.
Once the ground has thawed and you’ve done your spring planting, it’s time to maintain your garden.
Flowers and shrubbery sprout rapidly during the growing season, so take out your pruners and follow this summer landscaping maintenance checklist full of handy tips:
Inspect plants for winter damage: Perennial plants can sustain damage during the winter. Prune damaged leaves and remove plants that didn’t make it through the season.
Clean debris from your lawn: Clear away any twigs, leaves, and debris that collected on your lawn during April showers.
Mow and edge the lawn: Make sure to set your mower on the highest setting so you don’t cut the grass too short.
Water your plants: Plants will need more water in the heat of summer than in the early spring. You can typically water your plants every three to four days, but you may need to water more frequently during a heat wave.
Adjust your sprinkler system for a summer schedule: Your lawn needs 1 to 1.5 inches of water per week during the summer. It’s best to water at dawn when temperatures are cooler and your lawn has time to absorb the water before it evaporates.
Prune overgrown plants and hedge shrubs: Pruning helps you grow thicker, more voluminous plants.
Weed your garden beds: Apply an herbicide if necessary.
Deadhead flowers: If you have flowering perennials, pinch off the dead flowers to promote new growth.
Inspect for bugs: Summer insects, like termites, mosquitoes, ants, and silverfish, can damage your home (and your summer fun). Contact a local pest control company to check your property for irritants.
If you have a pool, you’ll want to open it as soon as the outside temperature is consistently above 70 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. Pools require a lot of maintenance, particularly at the start of summer when you need to get it ready for swimming. You can make things easy by hiring a pool care service near you.
Otherwise, add these items to your home maintenance checklist for summer:
Clean and remove your pool cover: Remove any sticks, leaves, water puddles, and debris that have collected on your pool cover. Then, remove the cover, clean it, let it dry, and store it in a safe place.
Clean the pool deck: Clear the area of debris and scrub the pool deck with a hard-bristle brush.
De-winterize your pool: Remove winter guards and plugs.
Clean and clear debris from your pool equipment: This includes cleaning your filter, skimmer, pumps, drains, and anything else that may have gotten grimy during the off-season.
Reinstall pool accessories: Reinstall any accessories like pool lighting, ladders, and sports equipment that you uninstalled at the end of the season.
Fill your pool with water: The water level should be to the middle of the pool skimmer.
Prepare your pump, filter, and heater: This step could include priming your pump, reattaching your filter’s drain plug and pressure gauge, and making sure your heater has power.
Turn on your pump: You may need to backwash the system if the gauge shows high pressure.
Clean your pool: Use a leaf skimmer to remove debris floating in your pool. You can also vacuum the pool floor and scrub the sides of the pool.
Add the pool chemicals: you’ll need to clean your pool using pool opening chemicals, pool shock, and a pool water testing kit. Make sure you balance the water to the proper pH, alkalinity, calcium hardness, cyanuric acid, and chlorine levels.
Let your pool run for 24 hours: After 24 hours, retest your pool and add more chemicals if needed. From here, all that’s left to do is jump in.
From colorful flowers to a clean pool, following this checklist will get your home ready for a summer to remember.
How Much Does a Professional Home Inspection Cost?
If you want to see where you should put your maintenance efforts, a home inspector can check your house from top to bottom. The average cost of a home inspection is about $350, with most homeowners paying anywhere between $300 and $425.
A home inspection can ensure that all your major appliances, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems are working properly. Such a thorough inspection is only necessary if you haven’t kept up with yearly tuneups for your major systems. Even if you’re not selling your home any time soon, getting an inspection every few years will give you a detailed picture of the entire home’s health.
DIY vs. Hiring a Pro
Most of the areas on our summer home maintenance list are easy enough to complete on your own, such as changing your HVAC filter and adjusting your sprinkler system. The only cost to you will be for any supplies you need. However, when it comes to inspecting your home’s major systems and foundation, those are tasks better left to the pros who know what to look for. An HVAC tuneup, for example, can cost $75 to $200.
Erica Lamberg has worked for almost two decades as a reporter for news outlets including Fox News, USA Today, Real Simple, Gannett, US News & World Report and more.
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