Seasonal Maintenance
The same calendar every year. The ones in bold are the ones that matter most.
Spring
- Sprinklers on, one zone at a time. Walk it for broken heads and geysers.
- AC serviced before the first hot week, not during it.
- Walk the outside: paint, caulk, wood, and the grade along the foundation.
- Sump pump: pour a bucket in and listen.
- Gutters cleared, downspouts back on. On the Front Range's clay, drainage is foundation care.
- Backflow test, if your water utility sends the notice. Yearly, by a certified tester, half an hour.
- Hose off the AC condenser from the inside out before the service call. Cottonwood fluff packs the fins.
- Press the test button on every outdoor and garage outlet. Then press reset.
- Window screens back on. Clear the little weep holes at the bottom of the frames with a toothpick.
- Reset the sprinkler timer. The spring program should run shorter than July's.
- Look up in the attic after the first wet week. Daylight or stains mean a roof conversation.
The sump pump test. Pour a bucket of water into the pit until the float rises. The pump should kick on, empty the pit, and shut off. If it hums and does nothing, or runs and never stops, that is your call to make before the spring melt, not after.
The backflow notice. Denver Water sends a reminder a month before the test is due and wants it done as the water comes on for the season. A certified tester handles it and files the report. If you have a sprinkler system, you have a backflow preventer, usually a brass assembly near where the sprinkler line leaves the house.
Summer
- Water deep and less often. The lawn tells you when.
- Deck and fence cleaned; sealed every two or three years.
- Dead limbs off the big trees before the summer storms find them.
- After hail: walk the roof, gutters, AC fins. Call your insurance agent before you call a roofer. Policies set a deadline to report hail, often a year; look that season. A roofer who offers to cover your deductible is breaking Colorado law, and you have 72 hours to cancel any roofing contract.
- Raise the mower deck. Tall grass shades its own roots and drinks less.
- Run a finger along the caulk at the tub and shower. A bead that has pulled away lets water behind the wall.
- Garage door rollers and hinges get a silicone spray. Not the track, and not WD-40.
- Ceiling fans set to push air down. Stand under one; you should feel it.
- Vacuum the refrigerator coils. Dust is a sweater on a machine trying to stay cold.
The hail walk. You do not need to get on the roof. Walk the yard and look at the soft metal first: gutters, downspouts, window wraps, the AC fins. If those are dented, the shingles probably took it too. Take photos the same day, note the date, and call your agent. They decide whether to send an adjuster. The roofer comes after that, not before.
Fall
- Sprinkler blowout before the first hard freeze. Book it in September; the good ones fill up.
- Furnace serviced, humidifier pad fresh while they are there.
- Water heater flushed. Sediment settles in every tank, and a yearly flush keeps it off the burner.
- Hoses off, spigots drained, covers on. The first freeze does not send a notice.
- Gutters cleared after the leaves drop.
- Weatherstripping checked. Dryer duct cleared to the outside, not just the lint trap.
- Ceiling fans reversed to pull air up.
- Chimney swept and inspected if you burn wood.
- Young trees wrapped on the south side. Our winter sun splits the bark on the sunny side of a thin trunk.
- A look at the attic insulation. If you can see the tops of the joists, you need more.
- Snow shovel and ice melt found before you need them.
The sprinkler blowout. The pros use a big towable compressor because the job needs a lot of air at low pressure, not the other way around. The manufacturers say never more than 50 psi, one zone open at a time, and nobody standing over the heads. A garage pancake compressor has the pressure but not the volume, so it tends to leave water in the far corners. This is one to hire out.
The water heater flush. Turn the gas to pilot (or shut the power off on an electric one). Shut the cold water supply valve on top. Run a garden hose from the drain valve at the bottom to a floor drain or outside. Open a hot tap upstairs so air can get in, then open the drain valve. Let it run until the water comes out clear. Close the drain, open the supply, and leave the upstairs tap on until water runs steady. Then turn the gas or power back on. If the drain valve is stiff or drips afterward, that is a plumber question, not a muscle question.
Winter
- Leaving town: heat on, water main off. The one habit that prevents the worst phone call.
- Furnace and water heater vents, and the gas meter, brushed clear after every snow. Low on an outside wall.
- In a deep freeze, open the cabinet doors under sinks on exterior walls.
- Icicles are a message: heat is escaping through the roof. Insulation, not the icicles, is the fix.
- Humidifier on. The wood, the floors, and your sinuses will thank you.
- On a warm, dry afternoon when the ground is not frozen, water the young trees and shrubs. Our winters are dry enough to kill them from thirst.
- Shovel away from the house, not toward it. Meltwater at the foundation finds its way in.
- Rake the first few feet of snow off the roof edge after a big storm if you can do it from the ground.
- Tell the neighbor who has your key where the water main is.
Finding the vents and the main. On a newer furnace, look for two white plastic pipes coming out of an outside wall, usually low and near the utility room. One breathes in, one breathes out, and a snowdrift closes both. Clear them with a broom or a gloved hand, never a shovel, and knock down any icicles hanging above the gas meter. The water main shutoff is almost always inside, near the front foundation wall, where the pipe enters the house next to the meter. Find it on a Tuesday afternoon, not at midnight in January. Turn it a quarter turn or a few full turns, depending on the handle, and know which way is off.
Year-Round
The calendar handles the seasons. These go by the count.
- Furnace filter checked. The thin ones change monthly; the thick pleated ones a few times a year.
- Water bill read as a leak detector. A jump with no change in habits means something is running.
- Smoke and carbon monoxide detector batteries, when the clocks change.
- Garbage disposal cleaned. A tray of ice and a handful of coarse salt, then cold water.
- Dryer duct cleared all the way to the outside.
- Garage door reverse test. Lay a board flat under the door; it should touch and come back up.
- Sump pump test, if spring did not already cover it.
- Deck and fence sealed.
- Water heater anode rod checked. It is the sacrificial part inside the tank, and replacing it is cheaper than the tank.
If your house has one of these
Not on the card, and often not on the owner's radar until it fails.
- Boiler or radiant heat. Serviced in fall like a furnace, but by someone who does boilers. Not every HVAC company does.
- Steam humidifier. Canister replaced each heating season, not just the pad.
- Sewer line, if the house is pre-war with big trees. Scoped every few years. Old clay pipe and a mature elm are a slow argument, and the elm wins.
- Tankless water heater. Descaled yearly. Denver water is hard enough to matter.
- Flat or low-slope roof sections. Drains cleared in fall and after the first big snow. These fail at the drain, not the membrane.
- Whole-house generator. The monthly self-test should be running; listen for it. Annual service.
- Hot tub, pool, outdoor kitchen. Lines drained and sealed before the first freeze, same calendar as the hoses.
- Landscape lighting and irrigation controller. Reset after the fall time change. The controller is usually what is wrong with the yard.
For anything on this list, I know someone I trust and would hire myself. Text me and I will make the introduction.
Sources: National Association of REALTORS® home maintenance guidance, Rain Bird homeowner winterization guide, Denver Water backflow prevention program, Xcel Energy winter safety notices, CSU Extension on winter watering.