Monthly Home Maintenance List for September
Owning a home is the American dream. However, to keep your dream up and running, you need to maintain it. That’s why we’ve decided to create a monthly home maintenance list to help you keep your home in tip-top shape. Here is what you need to do in the month of September.
Kitchen
- See if you have a full charge on your fire extinguisher. Replace any extinguisher that does not hold a charge. Always place your extinguisher where it is easily accessible.
- Deep clean the kitchen garbage disposal. An easy way to get it clean is to add one-half cup of baking soda. Then add one-half cup fo vinegar. Wait for about ten minutes. Finally, pour boiling water down the drain. Another way to clean your garbage disposal is to make vinegar ice cubes. Simply pour vinegar into an ice tray. Then put the vinegar cubes into the disposal and turn on the blades. Not only does this clean the disposal but it sharpens the disposal’s blades. Feel free to run regular ice cubes through the disposal whenever you feel the blades are dull.
Bathroom
- Debris builds up easily in bathroom sinks, showers, and tubs. Be sure to remove this debris. Don’t forget to look at sinks in the kitchen and laundry room, too.
- If you have a bathroom that is not used regularly, you need to flush the toilets to keep build-up from occurring. You should also run water in the shower, tub, and sink.
- Look at the caulking in your bathroom. If caulking is breaking, cracking, or missing around sinks, showers, and tubs, replace it.
- Take off the aerators on your bathroom sink faucets. Rinse thoroughly. Be sure to replace the rubber seal if needed. This can be done for other sinks in the house as well.
Garage and Exterior
- Garage door safety is important because a child or animal can get caught under an automatic door. That is why you should always test the auto-reverse feature. To do this, place something like a board under the garage door. Close the door. Make sure that it reverses when it hits the board. If the auto-reverse feature is not working, contact a professional for maintenance.
- In addition to caulking in the bathroom, your home has exterior caulking around thresholds, doorsills, windowsills, and foundations. If the caulking is cracking, breaking, or missing, replace it.
- Your lawn will absorb moisture and get the needed oxygen more efficiently when aerated. September is a good month for this task.
Other Areas of Home Maintenance
- This chore should happen monthly – changing your HVAC filters in your home. Some filters only need changing every other month, but we recommend checking them each month. If the filters are dirty, always change them. During high pollen seasons, you may need new filters more often. The same is true for homeowners with pets.
- While changing your filters, you can also clean the air intake grills. A vacuum cleaner with a brush attachment does a good job.
- If you have a water softener, you should check the salt drum. Replace the salt drum as needed.
- Although you may not have heard of fall cleaning, a deep clean twice a year is a good idea. When you deep clean, think top to bottom. This includes moldings, baseboards, windows, window ledges, window treatments, appliances, flooring, etc
** Skip items on the list that do not apply to your home. Feel free to add items that are specific to your home.
You should be able to complete most of the items on this list. You don’t have to be an experienced handyman. However, if you don’t know how to do a repair, contact us. We’d love to provide you our preferred list of local professionals. Always remember that it is easier and cheaper to perform home maintenance than it is to repair it after neglect.