Keeping a house, one job at a time.
Practical guides to keeping a house in good order: what each system needs, what to do in each season, and how often the jobs that matter actually come around.
Suggested tasks and frequencies are general guidelines only. Always follow your manufacturers' and installers' instructions and use your own judgment for your home's specific needs.
Start here
The home maintenance checklist
Every routine job worth keeping on a schedule, grouped by how often it comes around, from weekly to every few years. The whole year on one page.
Your first year in a new home
What to do in the first week, the first month and the first year, including the things a home inspection tells you once and then never mentions again.
By season
Spring home maintenance checklist
What a house needs once winter lets go: gutters, the outside envelope, the cooling system, and the ground. Northern hemisphere, roughly March to May.
Summer home maintenance checklist
The season with no deadlines: cooling equipment, outdoor timber, damp, and keeping growth off the building while the weather holds. Northern hemisphere.
Fall home maintenance checklist
The one season with real deadlines: chimney, dryer vent, water heater, and getting water out of the lines before the first hard freeze. Northern hemisphere.
Winter home maintenance checklist
A sealed house is a different house. Detectors, ceiling fan direction, the attic, condensation, and the plumbing nobody is using. Northern hemisphere.
By system
HVAC maintenance: what to do and when
Filters, the annual service, vents, exhaust fans and the ducts that are not part of the system. The whole cadence, and what each job is protecting.
Home plumbing maintenance checklist
The checks that cost nothing, the water heater, hard water, unused fixtures, and the parts most likely to flood a room. What to watch and what to hand over.
Appliance maintenance schedule
Fridge coils, dishwasher filter, range hood, disposal, humidifier, water filter and washing machine hoses: how often, and what going wrong looks like.
Home safety checks worth doing on a schedule
Smoke and CO alarms, the fire extinguisher, GFCI outlets and the garage door auto reverse. Four devices, five checks, and what a failed one looks like.
Common questions
How often to clean your gutters
Twice a year suits most houses, and more under trees. What decides the interval, the signs you can read from the ground, and when to hand it over.
How often to change your HVAC filter
Every one to three months for most homes. What actually moves the number, the signs a filter is past it, and why a thicker filter is not always better.
How often to clean a dryer vent
Once a year suits most households, sooner with a long duct or heavy use. Why slow drying is the first warning, and which parts belong to a vent service.
How often to flush a water heater
Once a year for a tank heater, more with hard water. What sediment does, the sounds and symptoms that give it away, and when to call a plumber instead.
Keep the whole list on a schedule.
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