House Spring Break Check List!

Despite the frigid temperatures, it is time to start thinking about getting your home ready for the spring!  Once the temperature warms up to 40 degrees, start knocking out these 3 items!

1. Clean your gutters and attach gutter extensions! 
Your extensions should extend at least 3 feet away from your home.  Often times at home inspections we'll find sellers have gutters.....that allow the water to drain directly down to one concentrated spot at their foundation wall!  Also, when your gutters are full of leaves, that's a pretty ineffective way to use a gutter:)


2.  Open up your crawl space vents!
It's time to let that crawl space breath!  Make sure you don't have anything blocking the vent, that you open them up, and if they are damaged that you replace them.


3.  Make sure your sump pump works!  
If you don't have a sump pump and don't need one, then lucky you! But many of our homes do and one thing we forget to do because it's out of sight in your crawl space is make sure the motor on the sump pump is working.  If it isn't, then your bucket will fill up with water and it's not going to pump the water out!  Also, make sure the water is pumping out and away from your home so the pipe should be at least 3 feet long! Otherwise the water will come right back into the crawlspace.  Your sump pump should be on a GFCI outlet also. For more information, read this handout on Muni.org on Sump Pump Discharge Requirements, https://www.muni.org/Departments/OCPD/development/BSD/Handouts/handoutag20.pdf.

A few other items you should consider taking care of is sweeping up all the loose gravel on your driveway so you don't slip and fall, and replace batteries in your smoke detectors!