March Home Maintenance

March is a month to prepare for spring.  Getting ready to pull out yard and gardening tools.  This includes: weed whacker, shears, soil knife, hand trowel, shovel, spade, leaf rake, garden rake, hoe, gardening gloves, wheelbarrow, leaf blower, digging fork, lawnmower, and some kind of stool if you don’t want to sit on the ground or kneel down doing yard work.  Make sure to service everything that needs to be serviced (weed whacker, leaf blower and lawnmower), and ensure that all the other tools are in good working order (check for cracks, splinters, rust, etc.).  Since you are starting out the season cleaning up after last season, which can be a time-consuming job, hiring a yard crew and/or gardener might be a good time saver.  A gardener may cost anywhere from $60 to $200, depending on if they are doing tasks like weed pulling or if they are setting up the garden for the year.  A lawn care crew may be anywhere from $25 to $50 per service. March is a great time to toss any unwanted or broken items.  Cluttered homes can make it difficult to relax.  There is a certain liberation to be found in tossing old items that are no longer useful and are just taking up space.  Depending on where a person lives and how warm the weather is outside, a yard sale is a great way to trim the home of unnecessary and unwanted items without having to take them anywhere or find someone who might want them.  Anything not sold in the yard sale can be donated. March is usually the planning of the garden time.  Before getting started on the garden itself, make sure that the area of last year’s garden is cleaned up of last year’s debris and any repairs have been made to the gardening posts, plots, boards, etc.  Depending on how much space you have to work with and what food you plan to grow, a garden can be tricky to setup.  There are loads of websites that offer garden plot planners and calendars.  There are also some pretty savvy vertical gardening techniques for those who have limited ground space but ample height potential. Here is a list of things to do during March and leading into April. March Maintenance      -Inspect sidewalks and driveways for damage and cracks      -Check seals around doors and windows      -Clean leftover debris from fall and winter      -Get yard equipment serviced      -Drain boiler if steam heat is used Monthly Maintenance      -Change dirty HVAC system filters      -Look for leaks around toilets and sinks      -Inspect grout and caulking      -Change dirty kitchen vent hood filter      -Inspect fire extinguishers      -Test smoke detectors and batteries      -Test carbon-monoxide detectors & batteries      -Stroll around outside checking foundation, vents, gutters, and drainpipes      -Check water softener & replenish salt (if needed)      -Inspect electric cords for wear      -Clean garbage disposal Active Maintenance      -Watch for ice dams      -Check for drafts      -Tighten any loose screws      -Shovel walkways & driveways      -Keep ice melt on walkways      -Look for signs of pests Maintaining a home is, more often than not, worth every penny.  Costs of repairing a major issue in a home can be in the tens of thousands or more depending on the problem.  Many individuals buy or rent homes without the knowledge they need to maintain their home and avoid the expensive repairs.  Home maintenance can also be very overwhelming if an individual does not know where to begin, how often to check certain trouble areas of their home, or know when the last maintenance was done.  This is why we started this blog.  Mountain America Concierge Services (MACS) will be posting about home maintenance on a regular basis.  Be sure to check back often and subscribe so that you can see when we make a post. You can visit our website at: https://mountain-america-concierge-services.business.site/?m=true You can visit our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/MACSfirst/