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As every homeowner knows, there just isn’t enough time to take care of all the tasks you want to get to. Some home projects take a priority over others, and before long you’ve let certain tasks fall by the wayside. Ignoring these tasks may be okay in the short term, but if left unattended to, they could develop into larger problems or become harder to solve. With that in mind, here are 6 home maintenance tasks that you should stop putting off and get to as soon as possible.
Clean Out the Gutters
First up, it’s time to clean your gutters. If it’s been a while since you’ve done so, your gutters are probably filled with leaves, sticks and other debris. As your gutters become more clogged, they will become less effective at directing rain water, and the result could be damage to your roof or water leaking into the home.
To clean your gutters this Austin roofing company says to “Move your ladder as close to the side of your house as possible making sure that it is on level floor and well balanced for maximum support. Hang your bucket on one side and on the other your small tools. Avoid carrying your tool in your pocket as it is better to be as light as possible. Climb your ladder to reach your gutters and use your gloved hands to pick out the dry leaves and twigs into your bucket.”
Pressure Wash Your Home
While you’re outside, now is a good time to notice whether your home needs a good bath. Dirt and grime can build up along the sides of your home over time, and every once in a while you’ll need to wash this off. This buildup happens gradually, so you may not even notice how dirty your home has become until you really take the time to examine it.
To clean it off, either rent or buy yourself a pressure washer. This machine will use a high pressure stream of water to blast everything away and makes the job much easier. If you don’t want to do this tedious job yourself, consider hiring a pressure washing service to do it for you.
Replace Your Air Filter
Moving inside, one common home maintenance task that many of us forget is changing the filter inside your HVAC system. All HVAC systems need a fresh intake of air in order to properly function, but this air has to first pass through an air filter. The filter will become clogged over time with dust and pet hairs, making it essential that you replace this filter every few months. Luckily, replacing an air filter is a relatively easy and affordable task, so there’s no reason to not get it done soon.
Deep Clean the Carpets
Most of us find time to vacuum our floors every so often, but that doesn’t pick up everything. Carpets take a lot of abuse of time, and to keep them looking their best, you need to periodically perform a deeper cleaning. To do this, you can either hire a carpet cleaning service, or rent a carpet steamer and do the job yourself. It takes a little time, and your carpets will remain wet for about a day or so, but once you get started and you see all the dirt being removed, you’ll be glad you finally got around to this and places like your living room will look like new.
Clear Out the Junk
Chances are you have some junk in your home that you’ve been meaning to get rid of. If so, now is the time. Take a weekend to go through each room of your home and decide what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of. Then decide how you want to get rid of it. You could try to sell it either online or at a yard sale, you could donate it to charity, or you could simply throw it away. Do whichever method works best for your schedule – the key is to finally get it out of your house, no matter how you do it.
Clean Out Kitchen Appliances
Finally, while you’re cleaning things out, give your kitchen appliances a good cleaning. Get rid of that old food at the back of the refrigerator then give all the shelves and the door a good scrubbing. After that, move onto your oven, stove and microwave, and give them the cleaning they’ve been wanting. Really get into each corner and wipe away all the grime that’s built up. After you finish your appliances will look like new.
Don’t Procrastinate Any Longer
The above tasks can be tedious, but once you get them done, you’ll be glad you did. So put together your own list of things you’ve been wanting to do, then find a free day to start getting them done one by one. The above list is a great place to start, but only you know which tasks you’ve been avoiding.
