Exterior Home Maintenance Made Easy

Stay up to date on your exterior home maintenance and repairs to keep your home in tip-top shape and it’s curb appeal high. Here are a few ways to make your exterior home maintenance and repairs simpler.

Make sure that you periodically checking on your mower blades to look for when they need to be replaced. The blades on your mower may seem dull, but it may not be why they aren’t cutting as well as they used to. It might not be that you need to replace your blades, but could actually be caused by grass build up on your blades. To keep grass from sticking, you will want to spray your blades with WD-40.

Take a visual scan of the exterior of your home every once in awhile and when you notice an issue with the paint, you can spot paint. Whatever color you have chosen for the outside of your home, it would be a great idea to keep an extra gallon of your exterior paint in your garage. Then, when you notice a spot or area that needs a touch-up, you can easily fix it without having to repaint the entire exterior of your home.

Cleaning out your gutters is another exterior home maintenance project that you will want to be sure to do a few times a year. Gutters and downspouts can become very clogged when the leaves start to fall off the trees, and you will want to have them cleared out before it becomes winter and everything freezes. This will also prevent water from backing up in your gutters and causing potential water damage from having an overflow in a particular spot.

You also want to remove any dead trees or shrubs that are close to your home and if you have trees and shrubs that are still healthy, you want to make sure you trim and prune them so they are not actually touching your home. When trees or shrubs are touching your home, you are providing a very easy entryway for insects to get into your home.

Your windows are another area that you will want to keep an eye on, and if you are in an older home that does not have newer windows, you may need to re-caulk them. Over time, windows will start to get drafts, due to gaps that occur and in order to prevent water or bugs from getting in, you will need to fill in those gaps with caulk.

Your mailbox is an area that not too many people think about in regards to providing maintenance, but mailboxes do take a beating and can get worn out over time. You may need to put in a new mailbox, or you may simply just need to strengthen the support for it.

Sidewalks and driveways are the last area on our checklist. If you have any holes or cracks, they can become a tripping hazard and could cause an accident. You will want to seal any cracks or if the damage is severe, you may need to have your driveway repaved.