Spring home maintenance checklist

Spring is the first chance to assess what winter did to your house and the right time to set up the systems that work hardest in summer. Here is the checklist, organized by where you should be looking and what to schedule.

Exterior

• Walk the foundation perimeter. Look for new cracks, settling, or signs of water staining from winter melt. Hairline cracks are normal; horizontal cracks or anything wider than a quarter inch wants attention.
• Inspect the roof from the ground. Use binoculars or a phone with a good zoom. Look for missing shingles, lifted flashing, sagging gutters, and any debris that did not come down with the leaves.
• Clean gutters and downspouts. Late spring, after tree buds and helicopters have dropped.
• Reconnect outdoor spigots. Test them and check for leaks at the hose bib and the shutoff valve inside.
• Walk the driveway. Mark cracks for filling, look for surface oxidation, and check whether sealing is overdue.
• Power wash decks, patios, and siding if needed. Use the lowest pressure that gets the job done; aggressive washing damages siding and woods.
• Inspect fences and gates. Reset posts that heaved with frost, replace rotten boards, and re-stain or seal where needed.
• Check the attic from below for winter damage. Look at the ceiling under the roof for new water stains; these show up after spring rain even if winter snow loads were the cause.

Yard and landscaping

• Aerate, dethatch, and apply pre-emergent to the lawn
• Prune dead branches off trees and shrubs
• Service the lawnmower (oil, blade, spark plug)
• Check irrigation system for leaks and broken heads
• Mulch garden beds (2 to 3 inches, kept off the trunks of trees)
• Inspect outdoor furniture and grill; clean and prep

HVAC and plumbing

• Schedule the AC tune-up. Late April or early May before contractors get busy. Insist on a full checklist, not just a refrigerant top-off.
• Replace HVAC filters. A new filter going into summer should always be a fresh one.
• Clean the outdoor condenser. Rinse the coil with a garden hose (not a pressure washer), trim back any vegetation within two feet, and remove any leaves and debris from the top screen.
• Pour vinegar in the AC condensate line to head off algae clogs in summer.
• Flush the water heater if you have not in the last 12 months. Spring is a forgiving time of year for the procedure.
• Test the sump pump before spring rains arrive.

Interior

• Reverse ceiling fans to summer mode (counter clockwise viewed from below) for a downdraft.
• Test smoke and CO detectors; replace batteries on any that need it.
• Check window screens. Repair tears and verify they fit; add any storm windows you removed.
• Clean dryer vent (or schedule a professional cleaning if it has been more than a year).
• Vacuum refrigerator coils. Heat going into the kitchen is heat your AC has to remove.
• Check for window and door weatherstripping that tore over winter; replace before peak heat arrives.

Pest and prevention

• Walk the perimeter looking for termite mud tubes, mouse holes, carpenter ant frass, or wasp nest starts under eaves
• Check window wells, vents, and crawl space access for nest entries
• Have the pest control service do a spring perimeter treatment if you use one

What to budget time and money for

A typical spring checklist takes two weekends spread out over April and May, plus the cost of professional services. Expect to spend $300 to $700 on AC tune-up and gutter cleaning combined. Budget another $200 to $1,000 for spring landscaping work. Anything outside that range is either deferred maintenance from a previous year or a windfall, and either way it deserves a separate look.

Tracking it

Spring maintenance is the kind of seasonal cycle that gets forgotten the moment summer is fully here. Saving the list, marking what got done and what got skipped, and rolling unfinished items into next spring is how you avoid the slow drift that ages a house before its time.