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Home > Consumer Focus Archive > Spring Home Maintenance
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Consumer Focus: Spring Home Maintenance
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Spring Home Maintenance
Every spring, daylight
savings time gives us an extra hour of light in the evening. Here are some home
maintenance tips that you can use while enjoying that extra spring sunshine.
Check back here in about two weeks for maintenance tips for the inside of your
home.
Posted: May 1, 2003
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Repair the
Ravages of Winter
- Prune
your trees and shrubs.
- Head to the shed and do
a "tool
inventory" to make sure you have all the items you'll need in the
months ahead. Inspect the tools you already have. For example, test your hoses
for leaks.
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Spring is a good time to paint
fences and the exterior of your home, especially wood surfaces. This way, they
will be protected from summer heat and sun. Wood decks should also be sealed
once a year.
- Since roofing shingles
are brittle in winter, they may break if you handle or walk on them. This makes
spring a good time to do an inspection. Look
for loose or curling shingles.
- Now that the heating
season is over, have a chimney
sweep clean any fireplaces and flues.
- Inspect door and window
screens for tears. You can often repair small tears using a kit from your local
hardware store. This will prevent insects from getting into your home, and keep
you comfortable on the screened porch.
- Clean your gutters. Before
getting out the ladder to reach them, review these safety tips.
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Beautify the Outside of Your Home
- Before you buy
seedlings, make notes about where you would like to plant flowers and how
much shade and sun these areas receive. This will help you determine which
flowers are appropriate for which areas.
- After any planting, be
sure to water and
mulch properly.
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Consider planting flowers in hanging baskets
if your garden space is limited.
- If you have bare
patches in your lawn, prepare
these areas for seed or sod. To care for your new and existing grass, be sure
to water
properly.
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Safety
- Before cleaning gutters
or climbing onto your roof, make sure your ladder is in
good shape.
- Reacquaint yourself
with lawnmower
safety tips and inspect all electrical lawn and garden tools.
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If you haven't used your circular power saw since
last summer, review the operations manual and safety tips before you begin
cutting.
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Other Resources
This is just a brief
overview. For more information, check out these resources:
Read these publications online
or order them from FCIC:
Websites*:
* Names of resources and
organizations included in this online article are provided as examples only,
and their inclusion does not mean that they are endorsed by the Federal Citizen
Information Center or any other Government agency. Also, if a particular
resource or organization is not mentioned, this does not mean or imply that it
is unsatisfactory.
*If you
click on these links, you are leaving FCIC's website. Please bookmark us before
you leave so you can return easily. FCIC is not responsible for the content of
these websites.
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other purpose. |
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For more information on other popular consumer issues check out
FCIC's Consumer Focus
Archive.
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