Fall Season Home Owner Tips

When do you decide summer is over and fall has begun? I like to split the year in two, when I have to change the clocks – spring ahead, fall back, 1 hour, right? That’s when we know the warm days are over; with the changing of the clocks to mark the beginning of standard time again. The mornings start to get colder and colder. We know that winter will be here soon. You should take some time to protect your home and garden investments by taking some time and do some sue diligence outside before the snow comes.

Prepare for fall – Repairs.

Start at the top. Your roof and eaves troughs  need to be in decent condition to care for your house in the coming months. Predominantly, make sure you clear the leaves and debris from the gutters and downspouts. If an obstruction in those areas forces melting ice back against and into the shingles, you most likely have ice damming which is a big problem to the reliability of your roof. This can lead to leaks inside your home which usually begins with staining of the ceilings inside. It gets worse from there. While you’re inspecting and cleaning out the eaves troughs, do a visual check of the roof itself. Look for loose, missing or broken shingles and or damaged vents. Also, check out your chimney for loose brick and crumbling mortar. Mortar is usually temperature-sensitive and can become complicated to repair as temperatures get colder. All labour performed on the roof have to be careful performed by a two-person team. You should have a competent person to hold the ladder for the people or person working on the roof. It would also be a time at this point to take the time to fix any fence, lattice, or trellis prior to the winter setting in.

Check the shed.

Leaving gardening tools outside over the winter is a bad idea. What you end up next spring is a useless, rusted, seized up piece of junk. Ever spend some time trying to free up a pair of garden scissors? How much WD-40 did you go through? Forget it. Spend a little time doing some due diligence before the snow flies and you’ll be thankful you did the following summer. Your garden tools have been faithful and good to you, working hard this summer and so you should be good to them and take care of them in the winter. Start by removing all built-up soil with a decent wire brush, you can also maybe use a wire whisk attachment on a power drill for the bigger jobs. You should sharpen all tools that are worn and have become blunt from usage. These include hoes, spades, pruners, loppers and saws. As you clean, you should double check your tools cautiously for loose screws. Finally, you should spray and wipe all bare metal parts and cutting edges with oil or penetrating oil such as the WD-40 you use to use to un-seize your old garden scissors. You can wipe the wooden handles of all your tools with boiled linseed oil to avoid cracking and drying up.

Power tool fall maintenance.

Generally, you have to change the oil of all your gas powered equipment as well as replace or sharpen the blades. You can sharpen the blades with a grinder. Sometimes, you will have to remove them from the machine first. Check the respective tool’s manual for recommended maintenance and service procedures. If you aren’t up this task, this can be done professionally. Look in the phone book. Store all equipment in a sealed shed. Don’t leave a window or door open.

Don’t forget the little things I can be easy to forget garden hoses at the end of the season as they don’t need much care. You should take some time to drain and rollup your hoses, and place it in a coil or  a reel in the shed, don’t hang them from a nail. Make certain you don’t leave a chance for water to get in the hose over the freezing winter season. Don’t forget about the irrigation system, if you have one, make sure to winterize it as well. Blow out the lines with a compressor to make certain that ice does not have a chance to crack and break the waterlines under ground. You should also turn off any outside taps and drain them at the faucet. A lot of people forget about this.

Wagons and carts.

These pieces of equipment also need some thought before the winter season. Touch up all paint chips and sand and paint all rust spots. Lubricate the wheel bearings with a few drops of oil to keep them protected and rolling effortlessly. This is another important step a lot of people forget about.

Light on!

As the nightfall comes sooner, you should do some maintenance on your outdoor lighting. Change the bulbs and make sure that all switches and timers are set for the shorter daylight hours.