7 Spring Maintenance To Dos

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7 Spring Maintenance To Dos

Well spring is here and we all know that ‘Spring Clean’ fever has arrived.  When maintaining your home – your greatest asset – spring should trigger that it is time to carry out some essential, but only once a year, maintenance items.  Here’s our list of must do spring maintenance items to add to your to do list.

  1. Check your clothes dryer vents and remove any build-up of lint

We all know the dryer gets a workout over winter, but did you know that if the vents are blocked or there is a build-up of lint, that this is a potential fire hazard.

With the start of spring, this is a good time to ensure you have checked and cleaned the vents and removed any lint for the continued safe working of your dryer.

2. Check seals around windows and doors

Another one for the list after winter and winter’s harsh weather conditions, go around and check all the seals and caulking around windows and doors – both internal and external doors. 

Look for cracks or splits and replace as required.  This will not only keep your home water tight, but will also help to keep your house warm or cool depending on the season. 

3. Heaters and Chimneys and Flues

Because we use our heaters and fires mainly during the winter months, this is something you should really check twice a year, not just once.  You may only have your chimney or flue cleaned once a year, but it is worth the effort to have them checked twice a year.

Some people prefer to have them cleaned in autumn prior to winter, whilst other people will have them cleaned after winter and checked just prior to the next winter.

Don’t only check your chimney and flues, make sure you clean our the fire box and check it for wood burning heaters or fireplaces and then for electric or gas heaters, have them serviced and checked for wiring, leaks and general working order.

4. Air Conditioner

Spring is the perfect time to have your air conditioner cleaned and serviced in preparation for those summer months where the cool air from your air conditioner will not only keep you cool physically, but maybe also keep ‘the cool’ in your home life!  We all know what a hot day with no air conditioning can do to the mood of your family!

Make sure you have a professional check and clean your air conditioner.  Never try and do this yourself because if there are any issues – especially electrical – with your air conditioner, then this is not something to tackle yourself, it simply isn’t worth the risk.

5. Fertilise your lawn

We often think of our gardens in spring, but we often forget our lawns.  Now is the time to grab the fertiliser for our lawns to keep them healthy and lush coming into the summer months.  Spring is a great time to make sure your lawn is happy and health.

6. Check your roof

Now, this is not a DIY task, but spring is the perfect time to have your roof inspected to ensure there are no missing, loose or broken tiles.  Are there any leaks or spots of rust on your roof?  Missing screws or loose sheets if a tin roof?  Do you have mould, moss or lichen growing on your roof?

Spring is a great time for a roof inspection, but certainly not a DIY task.

7. Spring clean the exterior of your home

This list wouldn’t be complete with all those spring cleaning items that we all know we should be doing, but maybe are not as diligent as we should be. 

Spring is a great time to have your windows cleaned, a house wash, pressure clean paths and driveways, clean your external doors, clean your roof, clean your fences and of course, we would be crazy if we didn’t remind you to have your gutters cleaned, right?

Spring is the perfect time to give your home the once over after the harsh weather elements of winter and to get your home ready for summer.  We all have our cars serviced at least once a year, so think that spring brings a time to give your home a general service to ensure it is well maintained, protected from the elements and will keep your home in top condition to maintain (if not improve) its value over the years.

Happy Spring Clean !

Why Vacuum clean gutters?

We often get asked the reason why we vacuum clean gutters… wouldn’t it be easier just to blow them out with a blower or pull them out by hand or simply hose the stuff out of the gutters?  It may appear to be easier, but it is certainly not better.  Let’s look at the different ways to clean your gutters and the sometimes unseen issues with that method.

Hand Cleaning

This may seem like the simplest approach, go up a ladder with a bucket and simply scoop out the debris in your gutters by hand, but although simply, it really isn’t very safe or effective.

Safety is a big issue with cleaning gutters by hand.  When most people fall from a height, it is actually more often than not a fall off a ladder rather than a roof.  Ladders need to be secured to a property when working on or off them, placed on a flat and stable surface and then when cleaning gutters from the top of a ladder, you will be reaching out – sometimes beyond a safe reach – which will change your centre of gravity, make you unstable on the ladder and sometimes simply ‘push’ the ladder away from you, causing you to fall.  There are so many safety concerns with working off a ladder to clean your gutters by hand.

But cleaning by hand is also inefficient and ineffective to clean gutters.  There is simply not just leaves in your gutters that would appear to be easy to scoop out, but there is also a break- down of debris that causes a muddy sludge that sometimes can be impossible, or at the very least extremely messy, to scoop out of your gutters and it is this sludge that causes the most problems in your gutters. 

Also remember that other things live or end up in gutters from spiders to syringes to snakes.  None of which you would want to place your hand on!

Blower Cleaning

Sure this is a fast way of getting the leaves out of a gutter, but it is also a really messy way of doing it.  You don’t have a lot of control on a blower so anything you blow up and out of your gutters is likely to leave all over your yard.  Also remember that the muddy sludge at the bottom of your gutter is also not simply blown out with a blower.  Not really possible and if by some chance it is, then this muddy sludge is deposited all over your home.

Remember also that when blowing, leaves are often blown up and under the soffit of your home and sometimes there is even a little gap where they can get stuck.  Not only messy, but potentially hazardous for your home, especially if you live in a bushfire area. 

Hose Wash/Pressure Wash Gutters

Another idea people have to clean their gutters is to simply hose them out or use a pressure cleaning wand to high pressure wash the debris out of your gutters.  So firstly, much like a blower, you are going to create an awful mess with leaves and sludge sprayed out of the gutters into your yard or all over your property.

The second thing that happens is you simply “push” the debris down the gutters and into your downpipes.  If your gutters are full of debris and possible blockages, image that same debris getting blocked in your downpipes.  This is a real problem because no matter how clean your gutters are, if the downpipe is also blocked, then your gutters will continue to overflow. 

Vacuum Clean

We can get all the debris, take all the debris away so no mess left behind.  It can be done safely and more importantly, if actually gets your gutters cleaned.

That’s why we recommend getting your gutters vacuum cleaned.  Clean, Safe, Easy.