5 Preparations to Get Ready for Warm Weather

Winter is over. The sun is shining. The birds are chirping. Flowers are springing up from the soil. All this can only mean one thing.

It’s about to get really, really hot.

For some of us, spring and summer are the most wonderful times of the year. For us sane people, they’re just tiresome slogs, dripping with sweat, bug spray, and SPF 100.

Whether you enjoy warm weather or not, it’s important to make sure your home is fully prepared for the coming heatwave. Here are five of the best ways to do that.

Fix or install air conditioners

Take it from someone who can’t stand the heat, you don’t have to stay out of the kitchen. Just turn it into one giant refrigerator! Air conditioning is the best way to beat the heat when the temperature climbs to unbearable levels, so make sure your unit is dusted off, in working order, and perched in your bedroom window frame where it belongs before the mercury starts rising. If you don’t have one, get one. And if your current one is on the fritz, call your local ac repair company. Your sweat glands will thank you.

Get outdoor tools from storage

Another reason spring and summer are totally overrated: outdoor chores. Sure, winter means shoveling. But summer means mowing the lawn, spraying for insects, uprooting weeds, garden maintenance, and so much more. Bah humbug! If you’re one of those crazy outdoorsy types, though, don’t waste any time pulling your seasonal tools out of storage and making sure they’re up to the task. Gas up your lawnmower, unspool the extension cord for your weed trimmer and shine your shears. They’ll all be put to good use soon.

Keep an eye out for pests

If there’s one thing worse than sticky, sweaty, sunburnt summer, it’s finding creepy crawlers scurrying underfoot. Summertime is bug time. They sting you, suck your blood, eat your food, damage your plants, make your skin itchy, and they don’t even have the decency to chip in on the rent. Don’t let them get away with their freeloading ways. Stock up on insect repellant, seal up cracks along both the interior and exterior of your home, and, if need be, hire pest control to help keep your household creepy crawler-free.

Check your roof and gutters

Having a roof over your head is something to be grateful for. Show that gratitude by giving it some much-needed TLC. Watch out for crooked or missing shingles, cracked caulking, rusty flashing, and crumbling chimneys. If you decide to go up on the roof yourself, be careful. While you’re up there, though, might as well clean out the gutters. Otherwise, those April showers could cause interior leaks and wood rot.

Maintain the outdoor plumbing

Summer can be one mischievous season, but sometimes it teams up with its cousin winter to create household headaches that might surprise you. Case in point, if you have any outside water pipes, spigots, sprinklers, hoses, or pools, these will all come in handy when it’s hot out. However, they may not have survived the cold. Come early spring, remove insulators and freeze caps from outdoor faucets and test them. If you can’t coax out more than a wimpy trickle, there may be serious winter damage. Turn off any damaged water sources to minimize further problems and call a professional plumber, pronto!