This Year’s Fall Checklist: What Homeowners Should Know
The end of summer means that another transition into a new season is nearly upon homeowners. If you have a family, your kids going back to school isn’t going to be the only big adjustment.
There are things you should think about, like turning on your heating system and getting your home ready for the cooler seasons, and we’ve got a few tips for both your exterior and interior preparations.
Preparing Your Home’s Exterior
Home’s ExteriorWith fall coming, many parts of the USA will experience a drop in temperature as well as an increase in precipitation, which starts as rain and may eventually turn to snow as temperatures sink below the freezing point and stay there. For the most part, your home’s exterior is designed to
For the most part, your home’s exterior is designed to endure these seasonal changes, but there are things you can do to help ensure their good condition. People with HVAC systems that connect a centralized air conditioner to a furnace will usually have a condenser unit installed somewhere just outside the home.
This is a large intake unit, designed to bring in air to cool and then pump to the furnace. Because it needs to take the air in, it has many openings, and as autumn arrives, leave accumulating inside the condenser may be a problem.
One thing you should think about doing is covering the top of your condenser during autumn when the leaves are falling, to prevent this leafy pile-up. You should not buy a cover for your condenser and then slip that over for the season. This can hurt your condenser by trapping moisture inside, shortening the lifespan of the parts.
Keeping Your Interior Ready
IndoorsThe interior of your home can also be readied for cooler temperatures. HVAC owners that have been using the air conditioner all summer will soon be switching over to the furnace to keep things warm.
That means that it’s time for a seasonal change of the filter. For people less concerned about money and more about performance and efficiency, you may even want to switch out the filter in your furnace every month.
For people less concerned about money and more about performance and efficiency, you may even want to switch out the filter in your furnace every month. Some homes also have humidifiers built-in to keep the dry, itchy air of winter at bay.
Like the furnace, you should be prepping these units for another season of operation, which may mean replacing filters, as well as cleaning the units out for scale, rust build up or even hard water deposits. These little bits of maintenance ensure that no bigger problems crop up later.
Expert Maintenance
TechnicianFor the ultimate peace of mind and the most thorough preparation for a cooler season, it’s never a bad idea to bring in the experts for some professional care.
This means that experienced technicians can quickly look at the state of your equipment as well as associated components, to tell you how well you’re holding up.
They can then take things to the next level and give your home a proper prep job for the new season, doing things like cleaning the ventilation ducts to make sure nothing is building up inside that would obstruct airflow.
If you decide to get some professional help, make sure you pick the right people. Do your research of available services in the Durham, NC area and only get licensed, companies with a good reputation, like Green Horizon. This will always ensure the best results.