Guest post contributed by Kara Masterson
Spring is in the offing, and summer’s not far behind. If you haven’t quite prepared your home for summer, spring is the perfect time. This is a great and beautiful time of year so you might as well embrace the good weather and get to work. There’s no excuse to not prepare your house to welcome the season. Here are four tips:
Make Your Walkways Welcoming
Hose down the walkway to the front door to clear away debris. It may be an even better idea to power wash it to really scour away the dirt. If any paving stones or bricks are loose, repair them. Cracks in cement are easy to fix and can be fixed in an afternoon by a person who has beginner’s masonry skills. If you’re very ambitious, you can install an entire new walkway made of paving stones, flagstones, bricks or concrete.
Get the HVAC Checked
Ideally, the air conditioning unit should have been checked at the beginning of spring, but summer is not too late. Call an HVAC specialist such as Neil Hewitt Electrical & Air Conditioning to make sure the condensers, coils and blowers are working, the filters are clean and the refrigerant level is where it should be. Don’t wait until a really hot day to find out that your air conditioning is not up to standard or doesn’t work at all.
Check the Windows
Make sure that the windows can be opened and closed easily. If they’ve been caulked shut for the cooler months, remove the caulk with a putty knife. Check windows for rust, loose screws and metal tracks that are out of alignment. Sometimes all a bulky window needs is a bar of soap or a candle rubbed along the jambs. After the windows are fixed, wash them inside and out. A good, strong glass cleaner can be made up of one cup of rubbing alcohol, a cup of water and a tablespoon of clear ammonia. Some tips on window washing are to wash on a cloudy day that’s neither too cold nor too hot to avoid streaks, and start and end in a dry place. That means spraying cleanser all over the glass, using a clean towel to make a dry strip at the edges, then moving the squeegee from one edge to the other. When the windows are washed, open them up and let in the fresh air!
Move the Furniture Around
Moving the furniture around can actually be fun when everyone in the household is involved. Some homeowners put new, summery slipcovers on chairs and sofas, and put up summer-themed artwork. By doing this you can give your home a whole new summer look and prepare yourself for your next big party.
Summer is the time for welcoming guests and having fun. Let your house reflect the beauty of the season. Just take the time now to put forth the effort so that you don’t have to worry about it later. Who doesn’t just want to enjoy their home over the summer?
