There’s a certain feeling in the air, the days are getting longer, and it’s slowly getting warmer. All of this can mean only one thing — spring is practically around the corner. After a gloomy winter, that’s reason enough to feel happy. However, it also means you must deal with routine home maintenance. Sure, most complex repairs are technically your landlord’s job — though their precise obligations can vary based on your rental agreement. And even so, there are plenty of things to do around the house if you want to enjoy a peaceful, gorgeous spring and summer. Let’s take a look at some of the most important seasonal home maintenance tasks that you might not be aware of as a first-time renter!
Cleaning The Gutters
As you know, most of the maintenance tasks pertain to house renters. When you rent an apartment, you don’t have nearly as many seasonal home maintenance tasks. On the other hand, you also have far less space — and no private yard where you can spend some quality time when the weather’s nice. With that in mind, let’s cover the most basic chore anyone living in a house should deal with around this time — cleaning the gutters.
The state of your gutters varies depending on the local climate. For example, winters are not very harsh in Colorado, but it’s not exactly like Miami. Even a small amount of rainfall and wind can result in clogged gutters — or even damaged ones. Towns like Aurora get plenty of snow, and even though it melts throughout the day, it can still ice up and stop water flow in the gutters. This isn’t an issue you want to ignore because dirty gutters can lead to all sorts of problems down the line.
However, your safety is the top priority while checking gutters and anything else on the roof. Think about hiring furniture movers in Aurora or anywhere in Colorado if you need to move heavy items from the attic when doing roof maintenance. You can also use them to clear your home from old furniture before springtime. And if you think you don’t have to consider long-term gutter damage as a renter, think again — even in a short period, gutter problems can lead to higher utility bills.
Dirty Gutters Drive Utility Costs
So, how are your utility bills connected to the gutters in your rented house? Let’s examine the most obvious consequence of dirty gutters — water overflow. When water can’t make its way through your gutters, it goes where it can. That’s where the expression “water always finds a way” comes from. And in this particular case, that “way” can be your walls and foundation. You may not care about long-term foundational issues right now, but if water gets inside your insulation — you’ve got a real problem.
With damp insulation, your home’s HVAC system will need a lot more power to keep the temperature you’ve set. This is especially true in the winter when you’ll need plenty of power for heating. From the moment your insulation suffers from water damage, you can expect higher electricity bills pretty soon — this isn’t a long-term issue that only your landlord should care about. Plus, this excess moisture will make it harder for your ventilation system to maintain a reasonable level of indoor humidity. Again, you’ll have higher energy bills as a result — an issue that can ruin even the most perfect rental home.
Plus, water overflow from clogged gutters can also reach your windows. While it would take a lot of water to significantly damage the wood itself, even a small amount can damage your window seals. When that happens, your windows will start “leaking” heat 24/7 — further increasing the load on your HVAC system.
Check Your Smoke Detectors
Yes, dealing with smoke detectors all around your home can be annoying, depending on the size of the house. However, it’s an essential part of seasonal home maintenance for renters. We don’t have to go into too many details to explain why having functioning smoke detectors is crucial for your safety at home, after all.
Sure, this may be your landlord’s job — but it’s also easy to miss or willfully ignore because it’s such a small detail in the big picture of overall home maintenance. The same goes for carbon monoxide detectors.
Checking these detectors and changing all batteries should be the first thing you do when you move into a new home. After that, perform any other necessary safety checks — like testing the home’s security system or looking for signs of structural damage you might’ve missed. In the process of renovation, hire a professional moving company like Spyder Moving Denver to handle the logistics of moving the items to storage, while you focus on safety.
Check Your Roof
Our next piece of seasonal home maintenance advice is centered on the roof. Of course, once again, you’re not likely to make roof repairs on your own as a renter — at least not without getting reimbursed by the landlord.
However, even if your landlord is the one who’s going to handle repairs, you need to know if there’s an issue to begin with. Considering that, check your roof thoroughly on the first dry and reasonably warm day. It’s the first step towards keeping your rental home in proper condition in warmer months.
You need to know if there’s any debris on the roof and if it’s accumulating in a particular spot. If so, you need to remove it or have it removed. In most cases, you don’t want to attempt even minor roof repairs on your own. Get a trained professional instead, and discuss the cost with your landlord. Remember, heavy debris can easily damage your roof shingles, potentially resulting in higher heating bills.
Heat easily escapes through the roof if there are any rough patches on it, and you’ll be facing much higher heating and cooling costs when the next summer and winter roll around. So, always be mindful of the state of your roof to avoid higher utility costs as a renter.
Wrapping Up
As you can see, there are plenty of seasonal home maintenance chores that take some time and effort — but ultimately result in lower utility bills and a more comfortable home life. Even as a house renter, you don’t want to sleep on these once spring arrives.
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