As the seasons change, mother nature is subtly telling us to look at the coming months and get prepared for what’s next. Winter is over, which means these next few weeks are a natural reminder to get to work on any projects you put off or need to get done before your summer fun starts. There is a reason we have the term ‘spring cleaning’ in our vocabulary.
That being said, there are a number of things both inside and outside your home that need checking up on in before the sweltering heat arrives.
Depending on how bad storms were in your area, your yard likely needs work before barbecue season. Weeds, both big and small, may be littered throughout your property. Simply pulling them up or trimming them, and raking up all the debris will do wonders in making your yard look neat and orderly. Additionally, they create a major fire hazard when they dry out, making it imperative that you take care of this growing problem.
Others may want to go a step further. Recent storms eased concerns about a prolonged drought, and many areas may not face water restrictions like in years’ past, leading many homeowners to consider an irrigation system. A nighttime watering every few days will keep the green in areas that aren’t supposed to be brown.
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Gardens will need to be tended to as well. Flowers may bloom, but weeds will also sprout, compromising a potentially beautiful setting. These beds need to be cleaned up before you can mulch (or even if you don’t). This will allow the spring plants to show in all their splendor and give you a clean canvas to plant anything new in your garden. Be sure to focus on any plants, bushes or trees you allow to grow wild. Storms may have damaged these as well, changing the visual appeal of these areas.
If you still feel like your curb appeal is lacking, a full landscape redesign might be in order. Changing the stone walkway to the patio or replacing a bush with flowers might give your property some new character. Combining masonry work with your natural space can give your property a fresh new look that will leave you wanting to spend more time outdoors.
Many landscape companies may be limited in the scope of their expertise, especially if you’re looking for a new design or an irrigation system. Consider handling some of these yourself, instead of using a one-stop shop to handle all aspects of your yard, or use different companies for different tasks.
If you don’t have the gumption to do any of it yourself (or don’t have the tools necessary to complete the work), try using a referral service like MyGuy to make sure you have the right people working on your property. They’ve already vetted companies or individuals to make sure they can complete the work to your satisfaction. After all, you don’t want to spend all your time trying to find people to do work on things when it could be already done.
You’ll also want to look further ahead than just the next few months. Before you know it, you won’t want to spend any amount of time outdoors. That is, if you don’t have any shade in your yard – or a pool.
You’ll want to make sure you can cool down during the summer, and getting that pool ready will go a long way to making sure you can. After draining it for winter, it isn’t only the water level that needs to be corrected. There were plugs, pumps, filters and covers that were changed out. You now need to change them back, and fast, as a heat wave may come any day and you’ll be longing to dive into that refreshing water. You also can’t assume that everything will work exactly as it did last summer, and you should find out sooner rather than later what you need to replace.
If you’re not lucky enough to have a pool, there’s one thing that is most important that you need to check up on – your home’s air conditioning. Every Central A/C unit, and even individual units, need to be cleaned up. Coils, filters, condensation lines – they’ve all seen dirt and debris from dust storms. Even if they haven’t been completely unused for the winter months, there is no telling if they can survive the dead of summer without a little TLC. It’s much better to make sure that everything is in working order when those scorchers are an everyday occurrence.
