10 Spring Cleaning Ideas
Key Takeaway
Spring cleaning is about more than tidiness. It's about protecting your home from water damage and mold. Key tasks include cleaning out your basement, repairing gutters, inspecting your roof, pressure washing surfaces, and ensuring fire alarms are working. A few hours of seasonal maintenance can prevent thousands of dollars in restoration costs.
Keeping a clean home and yard not only helps keep your property attractive, but it can also help prevent significant damage to your home. Here are some spring cleaning ideas for a beautiful and safe home.
1. Clean Out Your Basement
Let’s start in the basement of your home. Most homeowners use their basements as storage and over time our possessions accumulate to the point that we forget what we are even storing down there. It’s important to keep a tidy basement because in the case that your basement floods, which is quite common in many regions of upstate New York, anything stored on the floor is going to become damaged. Therefore, we recommend putting your possessions in plastic bins stored on shelves. You’ll be glad you did in the case of a flooded basement.
2. Remove Clutter
Do you really need all of that stuff stored in your basement? Go through your things and see what can be thrown out or donated. Need some inspiration to let go of your old possessions? Watch Tidying Up with Marie Kondo on Netflix. If you have a large amount of things you want to throw out, it’s best to call a junk removal service to get rid of everything for you at once.
3. Dust Everywhere
It’s easy to remember to dust tables, countertops and surfaces we easily see everyday, but every surface in our home has dust. Check and dust your bookshelves, books, window casings, top of ceiling fans, top of the refrigerator, curtain rods, electronics and wherever else you can see where there may be dust and dirt. Not only does dust exacerbate springtime allergies, but dust can also encourage mold growth.
4. Vacuum and Shampoo Carpets
Vacuuming carpets is a weekly household chore for many families, as it keeps carpets looking fresh and removes dry soil, dust and pet dander. When you vacuum make sure to do it slowly. This allows the vacuum cleaner to properly vibrate the carpet fibers and effectively pull the dust up into the vacuum. Although vacuums do a good job at removing dry soil, it’s smart to have your carpets professionally cleaned once a year. A professional carpet cleaning can more effectively remove dirt build up and bacteria from carpets. It will also help extend the lifespan of your carpets.
5. Clean Up Yard
Safeguard your home’s landscaping by tending to your trees and bushes every year. Spring is a great time to remove dead branches, trees, prune bushes, lay down fresh mulch and plant new vegetation. Our sister company Kennedy Tree Care has been around for over 30 years and can spruce up every part of your landscaping.
6. Pressure Washing
The long harsh winters in the Capital Region take a toll on outdoor surfaces. Ice, salt, dirt and mildew can dull and prematurely age surfaces. Siding, patios, decks, fences, walkways and driveways can all benefit from a pressure washing. Hiring a professional power washing company is well worth the cost because using the wrong nozzle or cleaning agent can permanently damage your home, deck or concrete.
7. Clean and Repair Gutters
It’s essential that you clean and check your gutters for damage in the spring. Clogged or damaged gutters can cause water to overflow and pool up around the foundation of your home. This can cause your basement to become flooded or encourage mold and mildew growth around the foundation. Normal wear and tear will cause gutters to rust, sag and loosen, so it’s best to check on them every spring.
8. Check Your Roof
Winters are tough on roofs. Ice dams are capable of damaging shingles and the roof deck underneath. If your roof is over 10 years old, you may want to have it inspected for any damage. Leaky roofs can wreak havoc by causing water damage to drywall, flooring and wood framing. A quick inspection and repair will save a lot of money in the long run.
9. Get Your House Painted
There is no quicker way to improve the appearance of your home’s interior or exterior than a fresh coat of paint. Your home’s exterior paint job is also a line of defense against ice, moisture, mold and insects.
10. Ensure Fire Safety
Well, it’s not exactly cleaning, but make sure that your fire alarms have fresh batteries. This should be done twice a year. It’s also important to make sure the fire alarms are free of dust. Keeping your alarms in working order will go a long way to limiting the chance of potentially severe fire damage to your home or business.
If you need help getting your home or business into shape this spring, call KPM Restoration today at (518) 859-9769.