When the seasons change, it is the perfect time to look around your house and do a review. The time of year will dictate what needs to be checked. Your heater would not necessarily need to be checked when it is summer, but close to summer is when you want to check your air conditioning. You want to make sure it is working correctly before you need it. What else needs to be checked around the house for summer maintenance?
Appliances
In the summer, it is a good time to check your appliances around the home. You can check to make sure that everything is working properly and perform general maintenance to keep everything running smoothly. One area to check is your door seals. You can check the seal on the washing machine, the refrigerator, and the oven, to name a few. You can open the doors and do a visual inspection to see if the seal looks uniform and if the doors close properly and evenly.
For the washing machine, you can check the drum to see if there is any type of buildup that will cause it to malfunction or not clean your clothes as well. For the oven, you can do a temperature check (with an oven thermometer you can buy at the store) to make sure that the temperature you set the oven to is the temperature that is being reached. You can do the same type of temperature check for your refrigerator and freezer as well.
Ceiling Fan
In the summer, you want to reverse the direction of your fan so that the air is pushed down to create a breeze. The fan will run counterclockwise. It would be good before you change the direction, to dust/clean off the fan as well and make sure the motor is clear of debris and everything is working.
Baseboards/Window Sills
Now is also a good time to completely wipe down the baseboards around your house. This is an area that is often neglected. You can wipe down the baseboard and check the window sill area to remove dirt and debris that has collected there. Sometimes that can affect how well the windows close.
Detectors
Smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors should be checked to make sure they are in working order and the battery is good. If you choose to check them around the change of the seasons, it will be easier to remember. It is good to test the detectors once a month and change the batteries out every six months or so.
