What You Need to Do to Prepare Your Homes Exterior for Autumn

Image credit

Autumn is a beautiful season of change, but it also brings specific challenges for homeowners. The transition from summer to winter requires some essential exterior maintenance to keep your home in top shape and ready to face the colder months ahead. It’s not only due to the fact that there’s an immediate shift in weather, but it rains more, and those gorgeous red leaves can do far more damage than you may expect.
​
Overall, before it gets too chilly outside, it’s best to do some maintenance work outdoors. Thankfully, since all of these are outside, you don’t need to worry about protecting your furniture or your belongings that stay indoors; most of these aren’t too labor-intensive either. So, here’s what you can do to prepare your home exterior for Autumn, but for winter too!

Clean Your Gutters ASAP

​Whether you choose to do the eavestrough cleaning yourself or get someone else- like a professional, to do it is all going to be up to you. But this is something that absolutely 100% needs to be taken care of before it gets bad. During the autumn season, you might need to get your gutters cleaned a few times, especially if your house is directly underneath a large tree. Overall, clogged gutters can cause so much damage to your house. It’s not even about aesthetics; it’s about actual damage. It can get into the siding of your house, which can cause mold, water damage, and rot- leaving the structural integrity of your home at major risk.

Get Your Roof Inspected

​So, you don’t need to do this annually, but it’s something that should be done at least every few years, and it’s even better if you can get this done earlier in the year, such as in the summer. So, when it comes to a roof inspection, it’s just to check to make sure there isn’t any damage; the same goes for your shingles. You (or the person you’re hiring) need to look for signs of wear and tear, like cracked or curling shingles, and get them replaced promptly.

A well-maintained roof is crucial for keeping your home warm and dry during the colder months. Autumn and winter are incredibly rainy; this is the time when there are hard winds, too, which is why you should get your roof checked. If you have a shed, then getting that one checked is a good idea, too.

Repaint if Needed

​So, this is more about aesthetics, but with the excessive heat and humidity in the summer months this can make paint wear down and even chip. Obviously, for any home, this is a bad look. So, instead, before it gets too wet and cold in the autumn, it’s a good idea to just go ahead and repaint where needed. Overall, just taking care of this early will leave the outside of your home looking gorgeous for the rest of the year.

Trim What You Can

Autumn is one of the last times of the year to trim your grass, shrubs, and trees if you’re able to. Try to cut down on what’s overgrown because once winter hits, and if there’s heavy snow and low temperatures, these overgrown branches can have the potential to cause some damage.