5 Quick Summer Fix-up Projects

As the weather turns warm and children prepare to get out of school, homeowners may begin making a to-do list of their top summer home improvement projects. Sometimes it is a wish list, but if you want to protect your home’s value or improve it for future sales, there is no better time to start than when the days get longer and frost is no longer a threat.

What are some of the top things homeowners do to improve or fix-up their home during the summer?

#1- Decks
If you have a deck, you will need to give it a good cleaning and check for any water damage from snow and ice last winter. You can purchase deck wash to scrub your deck with and it works well on any water or mold that may have found its way into the wood. Then you should apply a fresh coat of sealer providing there is no water damage to the deck. If there is water damage then you may want to sand it and refinish it. Then each year apply the sealer to it to eliminate future problems.

#2 Siding repair and window cleaning
If your home has any lose siding, which can occur with winter storms, winds and temperature changes, you should tackle the repair when you are most likely to finish it…in the warmth of summer not the freezing cold of winter. Now is also a good time to pressure wash the home. Make sure to use detergent that is made for home siding. Now is also a good time to clean always all the dirt on the outside of windows. If you have windows that you can not reach, then use a special outside Windex. They make a kind that hooks right to your hose and makes cleaning windows easy.

#3- Trim
Even if you have vinyl siding, it does not mean there isn’t some wood used around entry doors and steps. Remove any chipping paint, sand if needed and paint with weather resistant paint.

#4 Concrete
If you have a driveway, patio or walkway you will need to inspect these each spring or summer. Winter in New England tends to bring about some sort of damage to concrete each year. Salt thrown down to melt the ice as well as the snowblower scraping up the snow tends to create cracks. Cracks that are ignored can turn into big holes. The good news is cracks in the concrete are fairly simple to fix. As long as it’s a small crack you can buy concrete caulk. You will need to clean the crack out very well. The best way to do this is with a pressure hose and then let the crack dry. Once dry, apply the concrete caulk and let it dry. If the crack is pretty large then you will need to buy concrete patch instead if caulk.

#5- Dryer vents
If you have a clothes dryer in your home, then the entire vent system should be cleaned out at least once per year. Taking the lint trap out of the machine and cleaning it with each use does not guarantee the exterior vent is free of build up. To prevent the risk of fire, clean out the exterior vent and cap.