5 Tips to Get Your House Ready For Spring
Spring is officially here folks! After another temperamental Ottawa winter, it’s safe to say we’re all pretty excited about the upcoming warm weather (unless you’re an olympic level cross country skier like James Cullwick.) Now is the time when you can finally stop spending hours online shopping for new summer wear and IKEA backyard oasis decor and can finally take off your jacket and enjoy the sunshine.
But before you go put out your outdoor furniture, you need to get your yard and house spring ready. Put in the work now so you can enjoy the fruits of our labor when the temperature rises from 15 degrees to that classic 30 degree Ottawa summer weather.
The Boring Essentials
While certainly not the most exciting part of preparing your place for spring and summer, there are a couple important things to get out of the way such as
- Cleaning out your gutters/eavestrough/and downspouts
- Uncover your A/C and services
We figured we’d start with the “fun stuff”. Get your ladders out, or reach out to your outdoor company of choice. While your neighbour’s won’t necessarily notice the work put it in this category, it’ll keep your house running smoothly.
Get Your Lawn Ready to go
Is there anything quite like a beautiful lush green lawn? Especially once all that snow melts – it’s time to start focusing on your lawn. . If you have a lawn mower, it’s time to make sure it’s all tuned up and filled with fresh oil, and any old debris is cleared off. You may also want to consider an aeration service, which will puncture your lawn with small holes to allow air and water to get to the roots and help the soil thrive. You should also fertilize and seed your yard to fill in any dead or bare areas of grass, as a dead patch can really stand out. Finally, you’ll want to make sure your lawn is watered regularly throughout the season. If you don’t tend to get a lot of rain, you can use sprinklers on your lawn to soak it when the weather gets dry.
Get Your Green Thumb Going
Here we go – time to get your garden started! Local garden center’s are starting to open soon, so now is the time to get those gardening gloves out. Spring is the ideal time to plant summer-blooming flowers, which include beauties like dahlias and gladioli. Go ahead and get them into the ground as soon as the danger of frost has passed.
Wash Your Windows!
If you decide to clean your windows yourself, use a high-quality window cleaner and a couple of types of cloths. Start with a textured cloth to get the grime off. Follow up with a soft cloth to remove streaks. Don’t forget to wash your window screens, as dirty screens lead to dirty windows.
Cleaning windows can be tedious, and it can also be dangerous if you try to reach high windows. If you don’t have a ladder, consider reaching out to a window cleaning company to do the job for you.
Time to put that windex to good use!
Finishing Touches
Now we’ve got the big things out of the way, you can get your final spring tasks done. Examples of this include:
- Cleaning out the garage
- Get your patio furniture set up (maybe a trip to IKEA?)
- Get your hose set up and running
- TAKE DOWN YOUR CHRISTMAS LIGHTS IF YOU HAVEN’T
- Put up your bird feeders!
At the end of the day, you’ll put in the hard work now and be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor once the sunshine finally starts to stick. Need help or advice getting your house ready for spring? Or prepping it to sell? Give us a call or email!