Now the clocks have gone forward it must be spring! And there’s something primal about the urge to spring clean and carry out home maintenance. You’ve had all winter to think about those jobs you want to do, but you know you need a few days of good weather to really get to grips with them. You might be itching to throw open the windows and get right into giving the carpet a good shampoo, or you might have been obsessing over the state of the paint around your windows, and you’re dreaming of the day you can peel it back, repair the putty, fill any holes and give it a thorough lick of weatherproof paint. (Hands up, I’m guilty of both of those! But a damp carpet AND paint fumes at the same time? I think I’ll be spreading those jobs out…)

This year Spring Cleaning, probably more than any in living memory for most of us, will be an almost visceral event. After a year of being mostly stuck indoors and worrying we’ll finally be able to get fresh air into the house, scrub the woodwork, dust all the nooks and crannies and clear our heads too. We call it ‘Spring Cleaning’ but there’s a lot of DIY maintenance and household DIY which you’ll want to get up to your elbows in as well.

Clearing the Gutters and Checking the Roof

If your gutters aren’t cleared properly then all the leaf litter, moss, and other detritus that collects up there can become like compost for new growth. Blocked or broken gutters and down pipes will then let rainwater go wherever it likes, which could cause standing water to collect up against your exterior walls, which then leads to penetrating damp,

Roof tiles can get damaged over the winter by storms, ice and snow, damage which can again, lead to water’s ingress into your home. Not only can it ruin anything you have stored in your loft, it can leak through into your ceiling and timbers. Damp wood means rot, resulting in very expensive and worrisome work to repair. A stitch in time saves nine.

Painting and Rendering

Stripping back and repainting woodwork is a job which, if done regularly will keep windows and doors in good order for many years. There are several benefits to keeping them well maintained, some obvious, some not so much. While keeping the timbers free of rot they look good and keep water and drafts out, but well taken care of woodwork keeps intruders out too. If a house looks like its occupants care for it and take good care of it a burglar is more likely to walk past and not target it. Doors and windows which look like they could be easily forced are far more tempting.

Now is a great time to look at the render on your walls too. After rain and frost small cracks can grow into large ones, and large cracks can lead to the render becoming blown, and blown render can start to fall off in lumps. First check by eye for any unevenness in the render, and tap to see if it sounds hollow. If your home isn’t rendered, look at pointing and brickwork to see if the weather has damaged any of those since the last time it was clement.

Check your aerials and satellite dishes

The wind and rain can not only affect the alignment of your aerials and satellite receivers, it can rust the fixings, rain and frost can penetrate, making the securing loose, and when the trees come back into leaf and branches grow they can interfere with reception just as much as they can directly damage the receivers if the wind picks up. Carrying out this kind of work is best left to the professionals as it involves handling electronic equipment which needs to be precisely aligned at height.

Inspect the Flooring

As you walk around your home, look at the ground you’re walking on. Just as rain and frost can affect the roof and walls it can damage the surface of your paths, driveways and patios too. A pressure washer seems like a good idea to clear away any moss, garden detritus or dirt, but be wary. If wooden decking, weak cement or pointing has been damaged by the weather then using too much pressure could destroy it in seconds, so rather than revealing a problem you know you have to deal with in the fullness of time, you create damage which needs to be addressed immediately.

Taps and Hoses

If you have an outside tap take a moment to check it’s in working order. If it’s seized up don’t hit it with anything heavy, but use penetrating oil and ease it open gently. Once it’s flowing, put your thumb over the spout and see if you can stop the water. If it’s easy to do you may have had frost damage to the pipe lower down. If you have sprinklers no doubt they’ll have been collecting dust, and rust, for the past quarter so give them a good seeing to with a stiff brush and again, treat with penetrating oil.

Lawns and Beds

Now is the best time to see to the lawn too. If you’ve kids they’ll no doubt have been tearing it up for most of last summer and autumn. Re-seeding it now will mean that the new grass has a chance to bed in well before the first mowing and the children, and adults, start to want to enjoy it again this year. Starting to edge the beds and pick out the first of this years’ weeds should be something you’re thinking about now too. Getting a handle on it before the growing season really starts means so much less work later on.

Briant Communications provide a professional aerial and satellite installation and maintenance service. This also includes additional TV pugs sockets, Sky Q, and foreign language TV receivers. To find out more call today on 01273 465377 or email us at [email protected]