Summer is almost over, and we are now heading towards the Fall season! Fall is a great time to take care of your to-do lists and perform a once over check-up on your home. House maintenance for fall is actually a really important task, and definitely not one you should overlook. It’s easy to get busy and not keep up with simple home maintenance, but in the long run, that could lead to a lot of costly repairs that might have been prevented with regular
Not only is it simply good practice to take good care of your home and perform your home maintenance for fall, but as an added bonus, it also gets your house prepared for the upcoming winter. I try to make sure we do all these things each fall for our home. It might seem overwhelming, but I’ve made you the perfect actionable list for fall season home maintenance. (If you need an everyday home cleaning checklist, use this checklist!)
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House Maintenance For Fall: Indoor Items
Clean out and Defrost Your Freezer(s)
Mild fall weather is an excellent time to clean out and defrost your freezers. Especially if you have an upright freezer in your garage or basement. Cleaning the freezer out makes sure you are using your food inventory in a timely manner. Plus, you want to take good care of your freezer!
Also, if you have an upright freezer and don’t have a temperature alarm on it, now’s the time to get one. We had an unfortunate incident a few years back where our breakers had flipped in the garage and we didn’t realize the breaker that kept the freezer going didn’t get flipped back on.
We lost a TON of food and the smell and clean up was GOD-AWFUL. You need a freezer alarm. It just sticks to the front of the freezer and has a little lead that goes inside the freezer that keeps tabs on the temperature for you. It could save you a ton of money in wasted food and a ton of gagging over rotten food smell. Trust me!
Freezer Temperature Alarms:
- Oria Refrigerator and Freezer Dual Thermometer
- SensorPush Wireless Thermometer/Hygrometer for iPhone/Android
- KeeKit Refrigerator / Freezer Thermometer
Smoke Detector & Carbon Monoxide Detector Batteries
You should do this without fail every 6 months. It’s good sense and good safety. Period.
Also, doing so will ensure you never get the dreaded smoke alarm chirp in the middle of the night. Because those damn things never start chirping at 3 pm. Nooooooooooo. It’s 2 am for sure. A good time to remember to do this is with the time change in the fall and spring, which is how I remember. Time change day equals smoke detector battery day.
Also, you need to make sure you have a carbon monoxide detector. Here’s a great article from Very Well Family about why you need one.
Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors:
- First Alert CO605 Plug-In Battery Backup CO Alarm
- 3 Pack Fire Alarms Smoke Detector Battery Operated with Photoelectric Sensor
- Energizer 9 Volt Batteries – 8 Count
Deep Clean Inside The House
Fall is also a good time of year to give the house a good deep clean. As you are checking room to room on your maintenance list, go ahead and make note of any of the items you want to make sure get deep cleaned. It’s a great time to wash curtains, bedspreads, pillow shams
To not get overwhelmed, try to go room by room. Maybe tackle a room a week through the fall season and it will all be pristine by the time winter rolls around.
Have A Fall Yard Sale & Donate Unused Items
After you have tided up, you probably have enough items to host a yard sale. Maybe your neighborhood even does a neighborhood yard sale in the fall. If you have a ton of stuff to get rid of, have a small sale and make a little holiday cash.
Whatever you don’t sell, donate. There are always charities that are in need of household items. Also, make sure to go through your closets for clothing you don’t wear anymore, most especially coats. Fall is a great time to donate those items to a clothing or coat drive.
Get Your HVAC Unit Serviced
It’s super important to have your HVAC unit serviced in the fall and spring to prepare for the upcoming winter or summer season. I always like to have a service technician come out and take a look at the unit from top to bottom before we have to turn the heat on each season. I’d much rather find out that I have an issue way before I need the heat!
House Maintenance for Fall: Outdoor Projects
Clean the Gutters
Make sure all those gutters are free of the leaves and twigs that have fallen. You want your gutters to work properly to drain the water away from your house. If you get a tremendous amount of leaves, you may need to invest in some gutter guards to keep the leaves out of your gutters a little better.
You can definitely hire a service to clean out the gutters as well, but there are very affordable options on gutter guards online. Here’s a few I found on Amazon:
Gutter Guards
Clean and Winterize Your Patio Furniture
Our patio furniture stays out year-round because it doesn’t get that cold here. We have covers we can clip on the furniture if it’s going to get super nasty out. But if you don’t live in Tennessee where it refuses to ever get cool in temperature again, it’s probably time to clean it up, cover it up, and put it in the garage or basement for the season. Your nice furniture doesn’t need to be out in the harsh winter conditions.
And Toys!
It’s also a good time to clean up the summer outdoor toys and store them for winter as well. We’ve got a water table and sandbox that I like to scrub and store in the garage until it’s warm weather again.
Patio Furniture Covers:
Wax Vehicles
Really, you should wax your car about 4 times a year. But if you can’t always make that happen, try for the fall season for sure. It’s a good opportunity to get your car cleaned up and applying the wax just helps protect your car’s paint job from the environmental dirt and debris that fall and winter can bring.
Car Wax:
Trim Trees and Bushes
Don’t! Not in the fall! That’s a no-no! This was a trick category!!
Never trim the trees and bushes in the fall. You will be tempted because all of the leaves have fallen off and you can see every little thing that needs to be trimmed back. RESIST THE TEMPTATION!
You want to prune and trim in the late dead of winter to early spring. In the fall all your trees and bushes are trying to go dormant. If you trim them, they are going to fight against going dormant, and that will hurt them in the long run. They need to go dormant to conserve their energy to grow in the spring.
Windows and Screens
Get those windows and screens all cleaned off so you can see the gorgeous fall foliage that’s happening out your window! Cleaning windows can get tricky sometimes. Here’s Good Housekeeping’s Guide here.
Exterior Repairs
Take a good walk around your property and look for any exterior repairs that might be needed. Any brickwork or siding that needs fixing? Are all your windows and doors properly sealed? How about your sidewalks? Get those cracks repaired now before winter sets in and makes them worst AND causes a hidden hazard under snow. Check the weather stripping on your doors as well. You don’t want to let a ton of cold air in and make your heating bill go sky high.
Exterior Repair Stock Items to Always Have:
- Window and Door Weather Stripping
- Red Devil 0848 EZ Squeeze Window & Door Caulk (No Caulk Gun Required!)
- 3M Interior Transparent Weather Sealing Tape
Dryer Vents
Keeping your dryer vents cleaned out is SUPER important. If those vents get clogged, it can start a house fire. Depending on how much laundry you do, you should definitely clean them out a few times a year. Here’s a “How-To” guide from Cnet. We have this:
Holikme 20 Feet Dryer Vent Cleaning Brush, Lint Remover
It extends up to 20 feet and you can use it with our without your drill for extra cleaning power. It works great, is VERY effective and is super easy to use!
Water Leaks
Do a thorough walk-through on the house anywhere that has water pipes and check for water leaks. We had a water leak in our laundry room recently and it was hidden by baskets and boxes. So every now and then take a quick walk-
Chimney Cleaning
You should at the very least have your chimney inspected once a year. If you are actively using your fireplace, you should also opt for having it cleaned as well. Burning wood can leave particles that build up over time in your chimney, as well as other junk that can build up too. It’s always better safe than sorry on the chimneys. You can’t be too careful with fire. Here’s an article from MyChimney.com that further outlines the details of chimney cleaning.
Stock Up On Winter Supplies
Fall is a good time to make sure you are stocked up on house supplies for the winter. If you have a wood-burning fireplace you’ll want to make sure you have a plentiful wood supply. Also, if you get lots of bad weather, you’ll want to make sure you have plenty of some kind of de-icer and your snow shovel handy.
If you often lose power with the snow, make sure to stock up on bottled water and packaged food.
Top Inclement Weather Supplies:
Rake Your Leaves
Perhaps the most common fall activity is getting the leaves raked out of the yard. BUT – don’t do that. Here’s an article from USA Today that explains why you should let your leaves stay in the yard.
Certainly, if you have so many leaves that your yard and grass are being choked out, you’ll want to rake some of the leaves up. I had never heard that you were supposed to leave the leaves to fertilize that yard. I was pleasantly surprised and have happily stored my rake for another day! You do want to run them over with the lawnmower to mulch them up a bit though.
Faucets and Hoses
Make sure to drain and store your water hoses for the winter. Additionally, you’ll want to also put on exterior faucet covers to protect against freezing pipes. Frozen water pipes are easily preventable (at least where I live!) as long as you prepare properly.
Faucet and Hose protection:
- Insulating Outdoor Hardshell Faucet Covers for Freeze Protection (We have these and they are so easy to take on and off and work great!)
- Deyard Outdoor Faucet Cover Socks Faucet Freeze Protection Socks for Winter Outside Antifreeze Tap Cover
In Conclusion – House Maintenance for Fall
Fall is a wonderful time to give your home a little check-up. The changing of seasons is a natural time to inspect and make sure that your home is maintaining well as the seasons change. Heading into winter, you want to make sure that everything is in good working order so there are no surprises when it’s 10° outside.
The temperatures have finally cooled off and it’s a MUCH more manageable time to do some of the home maintenance needed to keep your house running smoothly. Home maintenance for fall is a
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