Summer home maintenance checklist

The equipment summer is hardest on

Heat is hard on anything with a compressor, and the two that matter both live outdoors or behind a grille where nobody looks.

• Clear the ground around the outdoor AC unit. It needs open air on every side to dump heat. Cuttings, a growing shrub, a stack of firewood or a trash can within a couple of feet of it all make the compressor work harder than it should.
• Look at the condenser fins. Cottonwood, grass clippings and dust mat into the coil and stop it shedding heat, which shows up as a system that runs and runs without ever getting the house cool. Cleaning them properly means water around an electrical unit and fins that bend if you touch them wrong, so it is usually part of the annual service. Worth asking for by name.
• Vacuum the refrigerator coils. A kitchen at 80 degrees is harder on a fridge than one at 68, and dust on the condenser makes the compressor run hot on top of that. A fridge that never seems to switch off is the sign, and the manual says whether your coils are at the back or underneath.
• Keep changing the HVAC filter. Cooling season loads a filter faster than the shoulder months, so a filter that lasts a quarter in April may not last two months in August.

Moisture and air

Summer is humid in most places, and humidity is the raw material for the two problems nobody wants: mold and condensation.

• Clean the bathroom exhaust fans. Vacuum the grille and the blades. A fan that has lost its pull is no longer removing the moisture a shower puts into the room, and weak fans invite mold.
• Check the AC condensate drain line. A cooling system pulls a surprising amount of water out of the air and sends it down a narrow pipe, and that pipe grows algae. A drain pan with standing water in it, or a damp patch near the indoor unit, means it's backing up.
• Empty and rinse anything holding standing water. Dehumidifier trays, a window unit's pan, a rain barrel. Water sitting at room temperature for a few days grows a film.
• Watch for condensation on windows, on cold water pipes, and in the basement. Persistent damp on a wall is worth looking into before it becomes a stain.

Keep the outside of the house clear

Everything grows in summer, and most of what grows wants to touch the building.

• Trim vegetation away from the siding and roof. Branches and shrubs against a wall hold moisture and give pests a bridge.
• Book or do a pest inspection. Droppings, mud tubes and chewed insulation around the foundation, crawlspace and attic are the early signs. Confirmed activity is a job for someone licensed to handle it.
• Look at the deck, fence and outdoor timber. Soft spots, loose boards, popped fasteners, and rails that move when you lean on them. Dry weather is the only time this is worth doing, because damp timber hides its problems.
• Check the seals around exterior doors and windows. Weatherstripping that has gone hard or flat is costing you cooled air right now, and it is a far more pleasant job in July than in November.
• Check that water still runs away from the house. Summer storms are the best test of grading and downspout extensions there is.

The interior jobs that never feel urgent

• Deep clean the carpets and rugs. Grit deep in the pile is what wears fibers down, and it's easiest to do when windows can stay open. Some fibers don't take wet extraction, so the maker's guidance decides the method.
• Test the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Monthly, all year, and summer is no exception.
• Sort one cupboard, one room at a time. Fill one box and get it into the car the same day. The car is the hard part.

Get ahead of fall

Fall is the season with real deadlines, and the way through it is to book things now.

Summer is the easiest season to skip entirely, because nothing on it complains. Patina keeps each of these on its own cycle so the jobs with no deadline still surface.

Seasons here are northern hemisphere, as they are throughout the app.