Things You Should Do to Your Home in the Merry Month of May

When spring comes, some people think about moving and start preparing their home for sale. Others think about how nice it will be to enjoy the yard and the other nice features of their homes and prepare them for summer enjoyment. May is a great time to undertake the annual maintenance that will keep the place in tip-top shape and might even uncover some more major things that need attention.

This year, homeowners can get tax credits for adding energy saving featured to their homes. As you are doing your spring maintenance, consider replacing windows or doors, adding insulation, getting a new heating or cooling system, placing your thermostat, or adding solar panels or another "green" temperature control solution while the incentives are available. Assessing the situation now will give you some time to plan.

The Obvious Things to Do

Even very good housekeepers are called to action when light floods the home in spring and draws attention to dirty windows and dusty blinds. Taking down the blinds and drapes and then washing the windows is a great project for a sunny day. You can vacuum the tops of the drapes where dust tends to collect and soak dusty blinds in the bathtub while you do your magic with a rag and a squeegee on the windows. You can use a hose to help you rinse outside windows. If your home has high cathedral ceiling windows or is multiple stories, you might think about calling in a window washing service.

As you're doing the windows, make sure to take a look at the screens. Ripped or torn screen are unsightly and don't do their job. After giving all the screens a good washing, repair or replace them before putting them back up on the window. For tips on screen repair, see our previous blog New Screens Give a Fresh Look to Your Louisiana Home.

Since spring marks the changing of the guard in your heating and cooling systems, this is good time to have your furnace and air conditioner serviced by a licensed professional. In any case, this is a good time to replace the furnace filter and vacuum all the vents and grills. Your air conditioning filter will also need changing or cleaning. Take a look at the outside unit and brush away any dirt from the evaporator pan and clean and replace the pan at the bottom of the unit. To prevent the build up of mold, mildew, and algae in air conditioning lines or drip pans, do preventive maintenance with bleach - a cup in the pipe that drains the moisture from the house into the ground and a capful or two in the pans.

Spring is a great time to wash down your home to remove winter dirt. You might even think about having it professionally power washed to remove winter dirt. If you see that your paint is peeling or dull or the siding needs help, you have time to paint (or hire a painter) or take the plunge and have siding installed. A paint job can be costly but it lasts six to eight years; maintaining the exterior of your home is important to maintaining property values. When you do want to sell your home, a pleasing exterior is crucial.

Landscaping is the other part of creating an inviting outside. After cleaning up from the winter, it's time to plan a schedule for lawn maintenance and planting. Make sure that your hoses and automatic sprinkling systems are in good condition. If you don't like to do outside work, there are plenty of lawn services around who can keep your property looking great.

Spring is a good time to rid the closets, garage, basement. and attic of unneeded clothes and other items. In our current economy, what you aren't using could be very helpful to someone else. You might plan a yard sale or take your discards to the Salvation Army or a shelter.

The payoff

Aside from the merits of having a clean home, having one that is maintained is also cost effective. You can alert yourself to things you need to take care of and be able to better budget for big projects. This year, you can assess whether to install energy efficient features with some help from the government. Finally, even if moving isn't on your agenda now, you will be able to prepare the home for sale much more quickly if you have taken care of maintenance issues as they come up.

Thing of buying or selling your Louisiana home? Sandy's Team will help you close the deal in East Baton Rouge, Livingston Parish, or Ascension Parish. We have a great stock of new and pre-owned homes available. Give us a call at (225) 677-SOLD, or check out our website, or email info@sandyco.com.