Part of owning a home is maintaining it, so that you and your family have a safe, well cared for place to live that you might eventually sell and hopefully recoup your investment. Here at Meridian Realty Group, we want our new homeowners to know how to best take care of their new homes, so here are ten handy tips for maintaining your house in the summer.

  1. Get your AC system serviced. While this is something you can choose to do in the early spring when AC companies are not as busy, the summer is when it’s truly beneficial.
  2. Change your air filter. This isn’t just a tip for summer - you should be doing this every month when you use your AC unit regularly (or if you have pets), and every few months otherwise.
  3. Check your attic. Do this in the early morning before it gets too warm up there, but the summer is an important time to check your attic or crawlspace for holes, mildew, rotting, and pests. It’ll be important to fix any problems before the heat just exacerbates the problem.
  4. Get your ceiling fans ready. Clean them off, make sure they’re balanced, and make sure they’re blowing in the right direction! You want your fans to spin counterclockwise to ensure that they push the air down and help keep your home cool.
  5. Clean your dryer vent. Lint and dust trapped in the vent and exhaust duct is a fire hazard, especially if there’s a dry heat.
  6. Prep your grill. If you have a charcoal grill, empty it and wipe away residue and use a sponge, hot water and soap to clean the inside and outside thoroughly. Gas grill users, just turn the heat up high and let the grill cook off any residue. Once it cools, sweep the grill with your brush and then clean out the trays.
  7. Mulch your plant beds. Mulch can help soil retain moisture during the hot months.
  8. Check for holes in your home. When it rains this summer, especially during hurricane season, that downpour can send outside animals scurrying for safety, which means they will look for any way to get into your dry, comfortable home. Unless you want to open your house to everything from snakes to mice, cover up any holes that you find, trim your tree branches so they don’t give easy access to the roof, keep yard debris and firewood stacks away from your home, and keep your trash cans tightly covered.
  9. Empty your gutters. Warm rotting leaves and debris is a perfect breeding ground for all types of creatures, so you should make sure your gutters are cleaned regularly.
  10. Have your roof inspected. Make sure you know how long ago your roof was installed, and inspect it annually, or after any big storms. If you can catch a potential roof leak before it happens, you’ll save yourself a lot of trouble!

There are plenty of other things you can do to make sure your home looks and stays nice, from pressure washing to resealing your deck to keeping your lawn well-maintained, but these 10 tips are a great start! When potential sellers ask us to help them sell their homes in Ocala and surrounding Marion County, we can tell when someone’s maintained their home over the years, and when they’re hoping we won’t notice, so it’s important to care for your home regularly, frequently, and meticulously!