The Importance of Exterior Home Maintenance

Just like the interior of your home, the exterior also needs care and maintenance to stay safe, beautiful, and clean. It’s easy to create a home maintenance schedule that includes all the tasks you need to do to protect your home. When you stay on top of exterior home maintenance tasks, you can reduce your risk of needing expensive home repairs. At Bryan Exteriors, we can help homeowners manage their home maintenance tasks. Whether you don’t have the time, tools, or patience to do it yourself, our team can handle it all.

Why Does Your Home Need Exterior Maintenance?

Your home needs exterior maintenance services to take care of small, minor issues before they get bigger, more dangerous, and more expensive. Just like you take your vehicle in for tune-ups and visit the doctor for check-ups, routine home inspections and maintenance will preserve your home’s safety, beauty, comfort, value, and energy efficiency. Scheduling routine and preventive maintenance will:

• Reduce your risk of interior and exterior damage.
• Help you avoid home repair emergencies.
• Lower your risk of storm, weather, and extreme temperature damage.
• Prevent insects, pests, and animals from taking up residence on your roof or in your home.
• Maintain compliance with your homeowner’s insurance policy, home warranty, and HOA regulations.
• Lower your chances of mold, mildew, algae, and water damage.
• Prevent burst or frozen pipes.
• Maintain the efficiency and beauty of your siding.
• Prevent your gutters and downspouts from getting clogged and damaged.

What Are the Key Types of Exterior Home Maintenance?

The key types of home maintenance services are preventive, corrective, and ongoing. Understanding each of these types of maintenance will help you understand their importance and create a useful schedule for completing home maintenance tasks:

• Preventive Home Maintenance – Preventive home maintenance includes maintenance tasks you do before a problem occurs. These tasks can prevent or reduce the risk of a problem. By staying on top of preventive tasks, you can save time and money, avoid stress, and reduce your risk of needing emergency home repair services.
• Corrective Home Maintenance – Corrective or restorative home maintenance includes tasks you do to correct or repair a problem. Unlike preventive maintenance, which is done to prevent a problem, corrective repairs are done after a problem exists.
• Ongoing Home Maintenance – Ongoing home maintenance can be a combination of corrective and preventive tasks. You will have to complete these tasks regularly to keep your home from falling into disrepair or becoming an eyesore. They may not be repairs or prevent damage to your home, but if you do not continue doing them, the value of your home will diminish.

When Is the Best Time to Schedule Home Maintenance Services?

The best time to schedule home maintenance services depends on the tasks you want to complete. Some tasks can be done monthly, some annually, and some seasonally. For instance, yard work and landscaping maintenance should be done seasonally. Roofing and exterior home inspection services should be scheduled in late summer or early fall. Here is a general exterior home maintenance checklist that you can use to schedule tasks by season:

Monthly Home Maintenance Tasks

• General yard work.
• Sweeping and power washing exterior surfaces.
• Checking for signs of pest and animal infestations.

Fall Home Maintenance Tasks

• Aerating your lawn and adjusting your irrigation system.
• Inspecting your heating system.
• Inspecting your fireplace and chimney.
• Weatherizing your windows and doors.
• Installing more energy-efficient windows and doors or investing in storm doors.
• Exterior painting.
• Roofing inspection.
• Power washing windows and siding.
• Cleaning gutters and downspouts.
• Fixing cracks and gaps in your sidewalks and driveway.

Winter Home Maintenance Tasks

• Winterizing your exterior plumbing and sprinkler systems.
• Replace or repair exterior siding.
• Clean your window and door screens.
• Inspect all exterior door and window hardware.
• Schedule an inspection of your water heater.
• Shut down your air conditioning or cooling system.
• Check your attic and basement for signs of leaks, condensation, humidity, and ventilation issues.
• Schedule drain cleaning services.
• Prepare for snow and ice removal.

Spring Home Maintenance Tasks

• Schedule an air conditioner or cooling system tune-up and change filters.
• Inspect your roofing for winter weather damage.
• Clean the window and door screens.
• Refinish your deck.
• Power wash windows and
• Clean debris from your gutters and downspouts.
• Clean interior and exterior faucet aerators and showerheads.
• Inspect your interior and exterior pipes and plumbing for signs of damage.
• Remove winterizing methods from your pipes and irrigation system.
• Flush your water heater.
• Fertilize your lawn.
• Schedule tree services and landscaping services.

Summer Home Maintenance Tasks

• Check your home’s interior and exterior for signs of leaks or water damage.
• Change your irrigation schedule for summer.
• Clean exhaust fan filters and dryer vents.
• Schedule pest, insect, and animal prevention services.

Annual Home Maintenance Tasks

• Deep clean your home.
• Power wash exterior surfaces.
• Inspect your garage door and all exterior doors and windows.
• Seal your deck.
• Clean your chimneys.
• Replace the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detector.
• Paint exterior surfaces like your siding, deck, porch, and doors.

What Are the Benefits of Exterior Home Maintenance?

Your home is a huge investment in your future. It’s important to preserve and protect your investment by caring for your home, inside and out. Exterior home maintenance services can reduce your risk of property damage, help you save time and money, and avoid stress. The biggest benefits of staying on top of your home’s exterior home maintenance needs are:

• Extend the lifespan of your home’s exterior elements
• Keep your home attractive and maintain its curb appeal.
• Maintain your home’s value.
• Reduce your risk of needing emergency repairs or expensive exterior remodeling services.
• Keep your home safe and structurally sound.
• Avoid health and safety issues.
• Maintain the energy efficiency of your home.

Schedule Exterior Home Maintenance Services

If you are unsure when your home last had a roof inspection or other exterior home maintenance services, our team at Bryan Exteriors can help. Call us today or contact us online to schedule exterior home maintenance services like siding, rain gutters, doors and windows, roofing, and painting services.