10 DIY Ways to Prep Your Portland Home for Spring

Spring Has Come to Portland; Is Your Home Ready?

If you haven't already, it’s time to start thinking about an annual spring cleaning, and preparing your home for the coming months before summer is officially here. Here are ten simple ways you can get your home prepared for the season to come, and potentially give your home’s value an extra boost in the process.

1 Improve the Grounds

Now that winter is completely over, it’s a great time to evaluate your front, side, and back yards. Clean up the accumulated winter debris and come up with a plan. What’s coming back? What needs to be pruned to make room for new growth? What would you like to add? Get it in the ground now so that you can relax and enjoy the good weather when it finally comes.

2 Rent a Power Washer and Clean Your Walkways and Drives

Mold, mildew, plant stains – whatever is discoloring your driveway and walkways may only require a rented power washer and a couple hours worth of work to clean up.

3 Repair Walkways, Drives, and Trim

Now that your paved areas and paving stones are cleaned up, you can probably see where cracks and settling have caused buckles and other tripping spots. Now is a great time to break out your gloves and deal with them before anyone falls and hurts themselves – leaving you liable.

4 Fix Any Exterior House Issues

Take a good look at your home from the outside. Does it need fresh paint, a shutter re-hung, a power-washing of its own? Are the eaves free of wasp nests? Spring is a great time to take care of all these details on your own – just make just make sure you use caution when attempting to safely remove a wasp’s nest (here’s a great how-to guide on the process).

5 Fix Any Roofing Issues and Clean the Gutters Again

Now that the weather has calmed down somewhat, it’s a good time to get up on the ladder and give the roof an inspection. Even if you don’t have any interior leaks, winter may have compromised your roof in ways that are clearly visible to the naked eye. Better to address them now than before they become serious issues. Also, get any remaining leaves and twigs out of your gutter while you’re up there.

6 Repair Windows and Doors

That door that you have to jerk the handle to get it to latch, that window that whistles whenever the wind comes out of the East, that cracked pane from that bird? Remember all those little projects you have been meaning to get to? Now’s a great time to fix any door and window issues that may still be on your list.

7 Fix any Plumbing or Electrical Issues

There’s nothing special about spring for taking care of your home’s plumbing and electrical issues. However, the spiders aren’t fully grown yet and it’s still nice and cold. So if spending July sweating in a crawlspace full of creepy crawlies doesn’t sound like much fun, maybe you should tackle any plumbing or electrical issues around the house now. 

8 De-Clutter and Clean

Spring is a great time to de-clutter and clean your home. It’s a season of rebirth, and a time to clear out the accumulation of winter as you prepare for the wide-open days of summer.

9 Deodorize and Clean Carpets

Why not also air out the house while you’re cleaning? The simple process will bring fresh oxygen in, and let pet and human odors out. And, if you smoke or do a lot of frying in the kitchen, you might consider getting your home professionally deodorized while you’re at it.

10 Repaint the Interior

If it’s been a few years since you painted last, chances are that you need to at least touch up the trim around some of the more heavily trafficked areas in your home. If you’re going to repaint a whole room, it’s probably warm enough for you to open up the ventilation, making the process easier and safer, too.

Summer Will Be Here Soon

It may not feel like it right now, but as sure as day follows night, summer will follow spring. Wouldn’t it be great to have all of these things handled already so you can sit back, relax and enjoy the much-deserved sunshine? It’ll sure beat sweating it out cleaning and painting and repairing things in the heat of July or August. Happy spring cleaning to you!