7 Home Improvement Tips For The Summer

With nothing else to do in the beginning days of Covid-19 restrictions, Americans worked on their homes. This summer, we continue to make our homes the envy of the neighborhood. Here are seven summer home improvement tips to help.

1. Power Wash The Outside Of The House

Mother Nature tosses things around as if they were confetti at a party. Some of those things get caught in the gutters, on the roof, and against the outside walls of the house.

Power washing the outside of the house returns it to like-new condition. It makes the now-clean windows sparkle, and the cleaned-out gutters ready for summer’s business.

2. Perform Preventive Maintenance On The HVAC Unit

It only takes a couple of hours to clean the fins, replace filters, check coolant, and check for leaks in the lines.

This saves thousands of dollars on replacing the unit because it broke. Additionally, you can wear sweaters and pile on blankets to keep warm in winter, but hot summer days are no time to be without cool air.

3. Prep The Lawnmower

Lawnmower blades become dull, so they need sharpening. Dried grass clings to the blades and undercarriage.

This causes grass clippings to clump and mug up the works. Clean it. Setting the blades at the requisite three inches benefits the grass.

Keeping the machine well oiled and properly running saves both the lawn and the budget.

4. Enclose The Pool

If you’re planning on putting in a pool, or if you already have one, then a pool fence is a good idea. It’s the law, for one thing, as well as enhancing your property.

Fences give people a sense of security. They’re pretty. They entice visitors to come inside to enjoy what the fence surrounds.

Fences can be anything from wrought iron to aluminum to chain link, and from white pickets to split rails, as long as the pool is safely enclosed.

5. Overhaul The Garage

Can you pull your car into the garage without upsetting the canoe, the lawnmower, the bikes, or the power tools?

Consider mounting a pegboard on two walls of the garage. On hooks, mount the bikes on one board. On hooks on the other board, mount the power tools, garden rakes, the blower, weed trimmer, lacrosse sticks, canoe paddles, and so forth.

Hang ladders horizontally to discourage climbing. Place a board across the overhead garage door rails. On this board could go the canoe, storage totes, and the lawn furniture in winter.

6. Install A Smart Thermostat

Energy efficiency is the key to not only decreasing your electric bill but to decreasing your carbon footprint.

Choose an Energy Star certified smart thermostat such as the Nest thermostat. These save homeowners around 15 percent on their power bills. They also adapt to homeowners’ tastes at room temperature.

7. Paint

Homeowners would be surprised just how much a fresh coat of paint enhances a house. It perks up the family’s mood.

It provides a fresh new background for furnishings, rugs, new window treatments like plantation shutters or wood blinds, paintings, and plants.

New paint also reflects the natural light shining in the windows much better, especially if an eggshell finish is used.

Not all bathrooms have windows, so they’ll need a light paint color to give the impression of light and space.

Kitchens are the heart of the house. They would benefit from light, happy colors like sunshine yellow, or sky blue. For other rooms, neutral colors are fading into the past.

Bold colors with an attitude are fast becoming the norm such as plum, Williamsburg blue, Hunter green, and antique gold.

While homeowners are doing their home improvements, painting the outside of the house is also a good idea. The sun and weather fade the siding. Every five years or so, painting it renews the life of a house. It looks better beside neighboring properties and attracts the notice of passers-by.

Final Thoughts

Sprucing up your house for the summer is something all homeowners should consider. It prolongs the life of the structure and its major systems like the HVAC.

If you’ve put off spring cleaning until the summer, then rent a storage unit to hold excess belongings. The pandemic has left us restricted to our homes, for the most part, so home improvements are just a natural way to enjoy them more.