Preparing Your Lawn and Home for Summer

Summer 2024 is almost here! You’re probably already enjoying the extended daylight hours, higher temperatures, and more family time now that the kids are out of school until the fall.

While it’s a great time of year to spend more time with friends and family, it’s important that you provide the necessary care for your home and lawn, especially if you’re going to have guests at your house.

Spring Cleaning

Summertime doesn’t officially start until June 20, 2024, which means you still have some time to complete those spring cleaning chores. While many people think of spring cleaning as something that only involves the inside of your home, it’s a good idea to look at your property as a whole.

Cleaning windows, washing down walls, and organizing your closet each spring are all normal tasks that people complete. But there’s plenty to do outside.

Consider either using a pressure washer yourself, or hiring a pressure washing company to come over and clean your sidewalks, driveways, and other concrete surfaces. Depending on the type of finish that your house has, you can also pressure wash the outside of your home.

Cleaning up the outside is just as important as cleaning up the inside, especially when you’re going to spend time outdoors. It’s also a great way to enjoy the outdoors while still being productive.

Schedule HVAC Maintenance

Whether you have a heat pump that provides year-round comfort or you have a standalone air conditioning unit, spring is the perfect time to schedule professional HVAC maintenance.

Most people don’t think about their home’s heating and cooling system until something goes wrong, but you can cut down on repair needs by letting a professional HVAC contractor tune up your system.

If you’re not sure about investing in HVAC maintenance, consider the numbers. According to Angi, the average cost of an HVAC tune-up, during which a professional technician inspects every part of your home’s cooling system, is $250. While that may seem high, the average HVAC repair costs $500.

While it’s not safe for you to perform HVAC maintenance or repairs on your own, there is one thing that you can do. Change your air filters regularly. Experts recommend that you change your filters every three months.

They also say you should change them more often if you have pets indoors. This not only allows your system to be more effective at cooling your home, but it also boosts your system’s efficiency and improves indoor air quality in your home.

Bring Your Lawn Back to Life

If you live in an area that has particularly harsh winters, your yard probably has some areas that show signs of damage. Spring is the perfect time to breathe fresh life into your lawn.

Start by aerating your lawn to create some holes in the soil. You can grab an aerator at your local hardware store if you don’t have one.

In addition to loosening up soil that became compacted under the weight of winter, aerating the soil creates holes that allow air and water to penetrate it.

Once you’ve aerated the soil, it’s time to add some fertilizer.

While you should pay special attention to any areas that have turned brown and died during the winter, it’s a good idea to add a quality fertilizer to your entire yard. Grass loses nutrients during the winter and a good fertilizer will help restore those nutrients.

Once you’ve fertilized the yard, overseed it. It may seem counterintuitive, but overseeding allows most of the seed to take root, especially in areas that have become bare.

A lush, thick yard looks great to the people who come over for those summertime cookouts and to people who drive by, letting them know that you care about every part of your property.

Change Your Ceiling Fans’ Direction

Ceiling fans in your home not only improve ventilation, but they can also aid in heating or cooling your home. When summertime temperatures start soaring, you’ll need to use every tool available to you to keep your home cool and comfortable.

Your ceiling fan has a button or a switch on it that dictates which direction the blades turn. In the wintertime, you can turn the blades clockwise, helping to push warm air down, and aiding in your home’s heating.

Come summer, you should flip the switch or hit the button, allowing your blades to turn counterclockwise. This helps push warm air upward. This is especially helpful if your home has vaulted ceilings.

Much like scheduling HVAC maintenance, this doesn’t only keep your home comfortable but also helps boost your system’s energy efficiency. When your HVAC system doesn’t have to work as hard to keep your home comfortable, you’ll notice a decrease in those monthly utility bills.

Beware of Crabgrass

Crabgrass is a warm-weather grass that starts germinating in early spring and continues growing throughout the summer.

Unfortunately, it’s a major threat to a healthy, lush lawn. To make things even more troubling for people who love their lawns, crabgrass grows rapidly and takes nutrients away from the grass that you want growing in your yard.

You can find specialized crabgrass spray at most hardware stores. These sprays don’t harm “good” grass, so you should be able to protect your yard while removing that pesky crabgrass.

Check for Air Leaks

Poorly insulated homes don’t only result in higher utility bills, but they also leave your home uncomfortable when summertime temps reach their highest.

Many HVAC companies offer home energy audits, so when you schedule your tune-up, ask about this service. If you can’t find a company that does it, take the time to look for leaks yourself.

Air leaks typically occur around doors or windows. While it’s not as effective as the tools that professionals use, you can simply move your hand slowly around your door frames and window seals to see if there is any warm air coming in around them. This is something that you can do during the wintertime, too.

Clean Out Your Gutters

It’s important to note that if you have any mobility issues or other problems that make climbing a ladder or getting on your roof unsafe, you should outsource this task to a professional.

Cleaning your gutters not only makes your house look better, but it’s also an important part of protecting your roof.

During autumn, when trees shed their leaves, many of them end up in your gutters. Over time, leaves, twigs, and other debris form blockages that make it impossible for water to flow away from your roof.

If you live in a place that gets a lot of snow during the winter, this is especially dangerous. Heavy snow and ice pulling on clogged gutters can cause them to separate from your roof.

Over time, when water can’t flow freely through your gutters it can back up under your shingles. Cleaning out your gutters each spring is an investment in your home’s look and functionality.

Whether you’re inside your home or enjoying the great outdoors, summertime is a wonderful opportunity to spend more time with friends and family. These tips can help you not only keep your home comfortable, but also looking great. Have a great summer!