It may seem like all you need to do to prepare for the following months is to buy a new bathing suit and book your summer vacation. However, with summer approaching fast, sweltering temperatures, bug invasions, and sudden weather changes will soon make their appearance. Beyond the traditional deep cleaning, spring is the perfect time of the year to make some checkups and changes around your house to be prepared for the hot season. Before summer hits at full force, make sure your home is ready to provide you and your family with a healthy and comfortable environment.
Get your AC system ready for summer
There is nothing worse than having your air conditioner break when summer is in full swing. Before the weather gets unbearable, it is time to make sure that your air conditioner is in perfect working order. If the unit is not working properly or doesn’t work at all, you need to find out a solution before your house will feel like the inside of an oven during the warm season. Ask a professional to check it and what is the replacement cost of new air conditioner to make sure your house will stay cool despite the heat of the mid-summer. Ensure that the filters and vents of the air conditioning unit are clean to avoid circulating polluted air through your home.
Install a programmable thermostat
Thermostats make it simple to adjust the temperature in your home with the turn of a dial or a tap of a touchscreen. Programmable thermostats are great for busy families or homeowners who spend most of their time away from home. This device can work around your schedule without you having to worry about it anymore. it will allow you to set automatic temperature controls for maximum comfort in hour home and energy efficiency. If you are planning to spend this summer traveling to new places as the weather is warm, a programmable thermostat will keep temperatures higher when you are traveling to keep costs low.
Clean and declutter
Deep cleaning and decluttering are part of summer home preparation. Give your house a fresh face for the hot season by opening up the window and allow a little fresh air and sunlight in. Declutter your home and put all your winter rugs and blankets into storage so that they do not take free space from your house.
Check your home’s insulation
Insulation works like a thermos throughout the entire year. While it keeps your home warm during winter, in summer it ensures that it stays cool and keeps the hot temperatures outside of your house. Proper insulation blocks heat from entering your home and it is the best way to save money on your energy bills and maintain a comfortable home environment. Pay attention to your attic and the levels between your conditioned and unconditioned spaces to check if your home needs extra insulation.
Keep bugs away from your home
During the colder months, most bugs go into some form of hibernation or migrate to other places with warm weather. However, during summer months, when nature comes back to life, so do the disease-carrying pests. Flying insects such as mosquitos, flies, wasps, and bugs can be a nuisance during the warm weather. The insect bites can result in red itchy bumps and can be serious health hazards as they carry illnesses which can be life-threatening. During the warm season, you need to set up a barrier for bugs to stop them from entering your house and become a nuisance and a health risk for you and your family. Check whether your home is properly sealed and spray the exterior of your house with a preventive insecticide to create a bug barrier.
Prevent water damage
Summer can bring heavy rain and thunderstorms which can lead to water damage in your home. Winter might have left behind some damaged area on the roof of your house because of the massive amount of weight from annual snowfall and ice accumulation. A roof check will tell you whether there are any buckled, curled, or cracked shingles or missing pieces which can lead to leaks and water damage to your ceiling. Checking your roof before summer heavy rains arrive can save you a lot of money on repairs from damage in the future. Also, hurricane season hits in the summer months and it is often followed by flooding. Hence, you should check the basement of your house for leaks and cracks and build up dirt or place grates outside your house to direct water away from the foundation.
Be prepared for summer hazards
When you think about summer, all you can imagine is vacation and warm weather. You rarely consider the hazards and risks that may occur during the hot season. Scorching temperatures, disease-carrying pests, and extreme weather changes can be extremely dangerous for you and your family if you do not get your house ready for this season from bottom to the top. The risk for heat exhaustion still exists even when you are indoors if you do take the necessary measures to keep your house cool such as installing an air conditioner and covering your windows with blinds or blackout curtains. Also, the most dangerous phenomena which are very common during the summer months are the pop-up thunderstorms. They can leave your house without power from a few minutes, hours, to several days. In order to be prepared for an extended outage, you should create a disaster kit in your home including water, non-perishable food, flashlights, and extra batteries.
A comfortable and cool home environment during summer requires a few preparations. Once your home is ready for the hot weather and possible hazards, you and your family will have an entertaining and safe summer.
