We love the relative simplicity of summer home maintenance. There’s no snow to shovel or leaves to rake, you don’t have to worry about pipes freezing over or throwing salt down on your driveway.

In the summertime, most of your maintenance duties revolve around your garden or pool — and if you’re lucky enough to have one of those, then you’re most likely spending a lot of time near it anyway. However, things start to change come autumn, when the weather starts to cool and your home requires a little more attention to ensure things keep running smoothly.

So, while it might not feel quite like fall yet, here are a few things you can do in anticipation of the cooler weather to stay ahead of the game and make sure your home is ready for the change of seasons.

Check For Drafts

As soon as you start to feel like the weather’s turning, one of the first things you should do is check for cool drafts entering your home. The most common culprits for allowing drafts in are places like your window frames, doorframes, and vents.

If you can feel a cool breeze entering your home near any of these areas, you might need to reseal them. The good news is, it’s a pretty easy job. Simply apply another coat of caulking or alternative sealing agent around the perimeter of these areas to stop the cold air from passing through.

In the long-term, doing this will also help you save money on heating bills throughout winter too. Don’t rely on your furnace or interior heating system battle these drafts on your behalf all winter when you can stop them at the source early on.

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Shut Off Outdoor Faucets

Next, it’s time to shut off those outdoor faucets and water features you probably have around the side of your house or in your backyard. Standalone faucets or ones connected to hoses or other water features should be thoroughly drained and fully switched off when summer comes to an end as they’re very vulnerable to freezing over when temperatures drop.

Trust us, the last thing you want is a cracked or burst water pipe in the autumn or winter, as they tend to be quite expensive to repair. To ensure you’ve drained out all of the water leading to your outdoor faucets, locate the water shut-off valve from inside your home. These can usually be found either where your faucet’s pipe exits your home or closer to your main water source usually located in your basement.

Simply turn the shut-off valve completely closed and then let any remaining water in your pipe, faucet, and hose run out by opening up your faucet.

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Check Your Roof And Gutters

While you’re outside, it’s a great time to check up on the state of your roof and gutters. Either grab a ladder and climb up yourself or enlist the help of someone else to get on top of your house.

First things first, it’s time to clean those gutters. Chances are over the course of late summer and early autumn, your gutters have accumulated quite the collection of fallen leaves, twigs, branches, and dirt.

When blocked with natural debris like this, gutters stop directing the flow of water away from your roof and can cause leaks and water damage to your roof, walls, and ceilings when it rains or snows later on.

Once your gutters have been fully cleaned, check your roof for any damage, cracked, or loose tiles or slates before heading down.

Just to make doubly sure there are no holes or weak spots in your roof, head into your attic or loft to check for damage from the inside. Shut off all of your interior lights and look for cracks of daylight through your ceiling. Then, turn the lights back on and inspect your ceiling for any water stains or wet patches that could reveal early signs of water damage.

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Service Your Furnace

Heading into the colder part of the year, you’re going to be using your furnace much more often again. But before you switch it on for the season, it’s important you make sure it’s in clean working condition.

Why? Well, your furnace is responsible for circulating warm air around your home, and you certainly don’t want to be breathing in any dusty or unclean air for the foreseeable future. Plus, if there are any issues with the performance of your furnace, it’s better to identify them before the weather really starts to drop.

Although tampering with your furnace might seem intimidating, this is actually another straightforward maintenance task to take care of. Simply shut off your furnace system and then open up its cover. From there, clean up any dust with a vacuum and wipe down any sooty areas.

Don’t forget to swap out your furnace’s filter for a new one before switching it back on and sealing the cover back up. If your furnace looks a little more complex than that or you simply don’t feel comfortable doing this step yourself, then you can always hire the services of a professional to come and take care of it.

If you opt for this route, make sure you remember to pre-book your furnace service as everybody begins to get the same idea once the weather starts to get colder. Now is the time to ensure everything’s working properly!

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Reverse Your Ceiling Fans

Whether your home has a comprehensive air conditioning system or not, there’s nothing quite like a ceiling fan to keep smaller rooms cool in the summer. However, did you know that they can also keep rooms warm in the winter too?

Ceiling fans’ blades are designed in such a way that when spinning counterclockwise in the summer, they bring warm air up towards the ceiling and circulate cooler air below. However, when set to the reverse clockwise setting in the winter, they actually work in the opposite way, pulling the rising warm air that collects at your ceiling and pushing it downwards.

Before you start reversing all of your ceiling fans this fall, however, make sure the blades are wiped clean of any dust. Simply give them a good wipe down with a cloth and ladder or extendable duster pole and you’re all good to hit reverse!

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