When you think of spring cleaning, what comes to mind? Getting your house in order, cleaning out closets, maybe tearing apart the pantry in the kitchen? But spring cleaning is more than that. It’s about getting your home ready for the summer season ahead. After all, it’s been through a lot with the heavy winter we’ve endured. Ease into it by hiring a handyman to help you out.Here’s our ultimate maintenance checklist to get your home in working order.
This was an especially frigid winter here in Toronto, but spring weather has to be around the corner! And with spring comes spring cleaning – a time to spruce up homes and sweep away the stale air of winter. This should be no less true for those managing rental properties.
If you’re a landlord of a single-family dwelling, this is then time to tend to some preventative maintenance, as well as evaluate winter’s wear on you property. Doing so now could save you money down the road. As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Exterior Maintenance
If you manage a single-family rental home, some exterior work will be necessary. Start by walking the grounds to take stock of what might need extra attention.
- Pay attention to the foundation and brickwork of your house to see if any parging may be necessary after a long snowy winter.
- Doing these repairs over the spring and summer could save you from a risk of water damage during the next winter and subsequent thaw.
- Beware that water damage is some of the hardest and most expensive type of damage to repair, so preventative maintenance is crucial.
Basic sprucing to the property is also in order. Window cleaning and power washing the garage, and fence will make your property shine. A handyman can help you out with these projects!
Have a plan for basic landscaping
A well-kept house and pretty front yard is appealing to prospective tenants, sets the standard for care for current tenants and boosts both yours and your neighbourhood’s property values. For low maintenance landscaping, my number 1 tip is to reduce the size of your front lawn. Instead, go for plant beds populated by hardy perennials and decorative paving stone that create a lovely space without the upkeep of a grass lawn.
- Turn on your garden’s exterior hose bibs or water taps.
- Have the gutters and eavestroughs inspected now too. Cold weather sometimes causes these to crack.
- One telltale sign: icicles. If you or your tenant noticed lots of icicles forming around your eavestroughs over the winter, this might be an indication of damage.
If your property uses motion sensor lighting, bulbs and batteries should now be changed.
Interior Maintenance
There’s work to do inside too, albeit much less:
- If your unit has battery operated smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, general advice is to change the batteries at the same time as the clocks change each year.
- Replace HVAC filters and thoroughly clean bathroom fans and inspect A/C units.
And of course, as you’re in and around the property, it’s always good to connect with your tenants to ensure everything is running smoothly and to see if there’s anything on their wish list for repairs.
Happy Spring!
Interior and exterior home maintenance is essential to the health of your home. If you can’t dedicate the time and effort to do it, there’s help! We have a directory of exterior cleaning professionals. Their expertise is getting properties in order! If the inside of your home or condo is the problem, we can put you in touch with the right experts for that as well. Our handyman service professionals can get the inside of your home in tiptop shape.
About the Author: Sabine Ghali is director at Buttonwood Property Management and an entrepreneur at heart who endeavors to help investors create wealth over time.
