Fall Home Maintenance Checklist

The leaves are changing. The nights are growing cold. The mornings arrive with a crisp layer of frost. There's no doubt about it: winter is coming. Is your house ready?

Home maintenance is important in every season, but fall is one of the most essential seasons to inspect your home inside and out to make sure it's ready for the long, cold winter months ahead. Ensure that your home is safe and secure with this simple fall home maintenance checklist.

Inspect Your Roof

Roof issues tend to worsen once temperatures drop below freezing, transforming seemingly minor problems into potentially severe damage. That's why fall is the ideal time to have your roof professionally inspected. Hire a roofing professional to look for loose and broken shingles, inspect the seals around chimneys, vents and skylights, and check for signs of leakage and water damage.

Tune Up Your HVAC

As your home transitions from cooling season to heating season, now is a good time to give your HVAC a tune-up. Have a professional clean and service your heating system, and consider having your ductwork cleaned if it's been more than 3 to 5 years since the last cleaning. Lastly, ensure your furnace has a clean filter and stock up on extra filters for the months ahead.

Check for Drafts

Air leaks can cost you a lot of money on your heating bills, and they also make it more difficult to maintain a comfortable temperature in your home. Locate and seal drafts before the heating season kicks into high gear, especially around windows and doors. Most leaks can be sealed with caulk or weather stripping.

Clean Out Gutters

Gutters should be cleaned at least once a year, either in spring or fall. If you have a lot of trees around your house that produce a large amount of leaf litter, it's wise to have gutters cleaned twice annually. The best time of year to clean your gutters is late fall, after most of the leaves have fallen from the trees. That way, water can flow freely in winter without backing up and freezing.

Ready Your Fireplace

If your home has a fireplace or wood stove, fall is the time to clean it and make sure it's safe and ready for winter use. If your chimney hasn't been cleaned since last season, have it professionally cleaned to remove creosote buildup, which is one of the leading causes of house fires.

Take Care of Yard Maintenance

Homeowners have a choice to rake up leaves this time of year, or leave them where they fall. Leaving them on the lawn can prevent light and nutrients from reaching the grass, so it's best to mow over them thoroughly with a mulching attachment, allowing your lawn to take advantage of the nutrients they provide. It's generally advisable to continue mowing and watering your lawn until the first hard frost.

Trim and Prune Landscape Plants

Different trees and shrubs have different needs when it comes to pruning, so be sure to learn more about the ideal time of year to trim the specific varieties in your landscape. For most trees, fall trimming should be restricted to dead, damaged or hazardous branches.

Store Away Summer Equipment

Clean and prepare your lawnmower for winter storage, along with other lawn equipment like sprinklers, weed trimmers and leaf blowers. Drain the gasoline from lawn mowers before storage, and safely stow gasoline in your garage or outdoor shed, out of the reach of children. Fall is also a good time to bring in outdoor cooking equipment like grills and smokers.

Winterize Outdoor Faucets

Disconnect hoses from outdoor faucets, and shut off the water valve to each outdoor faucet before temperatures begin to consistently drop below freezing. Consider adding insulation sleeves to exposed water pipes to reduce the risk of pipe freeze.

Test Safety and Emergency Equipment

Test and check the batteries in all your home's smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors during fall. To prepare for a winter power outage, make sure you have flashlights and a battery-powered radio fully charged. Fall is also a good time to consider getting a generator for your home if you don't already have one; choose a generator that can power your home's essential functions in case you lose power.

Fall is a season of transition, and as winter approaches, preventative home maintenance is more important than ever. Use this fall maintenance checklist to keep your home safe and secure through the chilly months ahead.

👉 Don’t have the time or tools to tackle everything on this list? TruBlue of Plymouth and Maple Grove is here to help. From gutter cleaning to handyman repairs and seasonal maintenance, we’ll take care of the hard work so you can enjoy a worry-free fall. Call us today to schedule your fall home maintenance services!