Home Maintenance Checklist: Weekly, Monthly and Seasonal Tasks

Leaves piled against the foundation and in window wells hold moisture against wood and concrete and give pests cover. Rake both clear, then run a blower over the roof, where wet debris shortens the life of the shingles.

A pass with the crevice tool along every wall and carpet edge removes the corners where spiders settle and start multiplying. It also puts your eyes on the baseboards each week, early enough to catch a leak stain or rodent droppings.

Pull the lint off the screen before or after each load, and reach into the slot for anything caught around the drum. Failure to clean caused 32% of home dryer fires from 2014 to 2018 and all seven deaths a year in them, according to the NFPA’s dryer fire report.

Pull the filter every month and replace it when it has gone gray. The EPA puts replacement at 60 to 90 days, sooner in a dusty month or a house with pets or allergies. The Department of Energy says a clean filter cuts air conditioner energy use by 5 to 15 percent.

Several HVAC techs I have talked to prefer inexpensive fiberglass filters because they put less strain on the blower. The EPA recommends MERV 13, or the highest rating the system accepts, and says most furnaces handle MERV 13 provided the filter is changed often. On an older system, ask your HVAC contractor which rating it takes before moving up.

Press the test button on every alarm once a month, the NFPA interval for both smoke and CO units. Replace removable batteries once a year. A chirp every 30 or 60 seconds means a low battery, and a chirp that continues after a fresh one means the alarm has reached end of life.

Replace smoke alarms 10 years after the manufacture date on the back, and replace any alarm with no date. CO alarms follow the maker’s schedule: Kidde rates units built since 2013 for 10 years and older ones for seven. A smart detector that syncs to your phone sends the battery warning before the 3 a.m. chirp.

Put a smoke alarm in every bedroom, outside each sleeping area and on every level, and a CO alarm outside each sleeping area and on every level. California has required CO alarms since 2011 in single-family homes with a gas appliance, a fireplace or an attached garage.

I write the install month on new batteries with a Sharpie (mm/yy), which shows at a glance which alarm is due.

The NFPA monthly check looks for an intact pull pin and tamper seal, a gauge needle in the green, a readable label and no dents or corrosion, with nothing blocking the way to it. Disposable extinguishers have a maximum service life of 12 years from the manufacture date stamped on the cylinder.

Keep one rated at least 2-A:10-B:C in the kitchen and one in the garage, and show everyone in the house where they hang. I cover extinguisher types and grease fires in fire safety in the home kitchen.

Plug a lamp into each GFCI outlet and press TEST; the lamp should go dark. Press RESET and it should come back. If it will not reset, replace the outlet. The CPSC calls for this test monthly and after every power failure, because outages can damage the device.

A 1960s house predates every GFCI rule in the National Electrical Code, which began requiring them outdoors in 1973 and in kitchens in 1987, so any GFCI in a house that age was added later.

Lay a 2×4 flat on the floor where the door closes. The door should reverse within about a second of touching the wood. Then pass an object through the photo-eye beam, which sits 4 to 6 inches off the floor; never use your body. If either test fails, disengage the opener and call a garage door company.

The CPSC counts about 73 children killed under automatic garage doors since 1982, and reversing systems have been required on openers built since January 1, 1991. It recommends checking the door every 30 days.

Fill an ice cube tray with one part vinegar to two parts water, freeze it, and run the cubes through the disposal. The vinegar deodorizes and the ice scours the grinding chamber. Lemon or orange peels cover the vinegar smell.

Mineral scale chokes the flow. Most aerators unscrew by hand. I set a cup of one part vinegar to two parts water over the drain, so a dropped aerator lands in the cup, and leave the aerator in it for a few hours before rinsing and threading it back on. Showerheads get the same soak.

Whirlpool says to clean the filter monthly, and every two weeks with daily use; Bosch says every few months. Rinse it under the tap with a soft brush, never a wire brush or scouring pad, and never run the machine without it. While you are down there, look under the sink for a slow drip at the supply and drain lines.

Grease loads up the filters over a hood or in a microwave fast. Broan says to wash aluminum mesh filters in the dishwasher about once a month with a phosphate-free detergent, more often with frying or wok cooking. Charcoal filters cannot be washed and need replacing.

I soak mine in a degreaser out on the driveway, since some degreasers can damage pipes.

Whirlpool calls for its cleaning cycle once a month or every 30 loads, whichever comes first, with the tablet in the drum and no detergent. On a front-loader, wipe the mold and grime out from under the rubber gasket with a rag, and leave the door open between loads.

Spread old towels before emptying the drain pump filter; more water comes out than you expect.

Give every drain a monthly enzyme drain cleaner treatment, used or not. Pour a few ounces before bed, let the bacteria work overnight, and flush with hot water in the morning. The enzymes break down hair, grease, soap scum and the biofilm that causes drain odors and breeds drain flies. I use Green Gobbler enzyme cleaner, which is safe for every pipe type, including my 1960s cast iron. I wrote up how enzyme cleaners work after clearing my own bathtub with six nightly treatments.

The same night, run water and flush toilets in guest bathrooms and any other fixture that sits unused. About a gallon down each drain refills the trap and keeps sewer gas out.

Look for soft flooring or loose tile around each toilet, and rock the bowl to see whether it is still sealed to the floor. Run a finger, or a paper towel, along the bottom of every pipe under the sinks to find moisture from a slow leak.

Sweep every eave around the house with a cobweb duster. It cuts down the spiders and pests that nest there.

Put it on a telescopic extension pole sold for painting. Pick aluminum or fiberglass with a metal screw tip; the standard thread takes the duster, a paint roller and the other pole-mounted tools in this checklist.

Look in the brine tank each month and add salt when it is under half full. If the salt looks full but the water has gone hard, tap the surface with a broom handle to break up a salt bridge.

The NFPA says to clean lint out of the vent pipe every three months or hire a dryer vent cleaning service. Run the dryer empty and feel the airflow at the outside hood; the flap should open and the air should push hard. Weak flow means a kink or clog in the duct. Clothes that are still damp after a normal cycle point to the same problem.

Replace plastic or foil duct with rigid or flexible metal. Gas dryers also get a professional inspection once a year.

This Old House says twice a year at minimum, and every three months with trees nearby. You learn which runs fill fastest. One corner of my gutters has nothing growing near it, but the crows in the neighborhood drop walnut shells there, so it gets checked more often than the rest.

Clear the downspouts with a leaf blower or a drain snake, and point each one 2 to 3 feet away from the house.

Give one day or a weekend every six months to appliances, windows and every corner, including the garage, the basement and any sheds. For supplies, I tested the best environmentally friendly cleaning products that work.

Check the weather stripping around every door and window in spring and fall, before the hot and cold months, and replace what has flattened or torn. ENERGY STAR puts the savings from sealing and insulating at an average of 15% on heating and cooling. A gap at the bottom of a door is also a rodent entrance.

Whirlpool says a normal kitchen does not need routine condenser coil cleaning; a home with pets, heavy traffic or dust should clean the coils every three to six months. Unplug the fridge, pull the base grille and vacuum the coils, with a coil brush for the grime a vacuum leaves behind.

Replace the water and ice filter every six months. Close the door on a dollar bill; if the bill slides out easily, the gasket needs replacing. On a frost-free model, the manual says whether the drain pan needs cleaning.

Rainwater should run away from the house, and no puddle should stand against it for more than 24 hours. When water stays or runs toward the foundation, start at the gutters: a loose connection, a bad spout or a clog. Then build up the soil grade along the foundation. Where concrete slopes toward the house, hire a contractor to raise and regrade it. Where runoff crosses the yard, a dry creek bed over a perforated drain carries it off.

Scrub off heavy growth, then treat the area so it does not return. The treatments come in hand sprayers and hose-end bottles. I spray problem areas with the hose attachment and use a small bottle for spots like the north face of my chimney.

For mold inside the house, a mold remediation cost estimate should cover both removal and the work that keeps it from returning.

Look for peeling paint, winter damage to siding, holes in brick and masonry, and cracks in the stucco and foundation.

Take the cover off an outdoor condenser, put window units back in, and look over a rooftop swamp cooler. Clear debris from the condenser, straighten bent fins with a fin comb, clean any foam filter, and pull the weeds growing around the unit. ENERGY STAR recommends a contractor check-up on the cooling system every spring.

Keep spare AC fuses handy; a blown fuse is the first check when the unit quits in July.

Patch holes in window and door screens with screen repair tape, or rescreen the frame with a screen repair kit.

Trim everything at least six inches off the walls and take down any branch hanging over the roof. Roots and vines work into cracks in the siding, and branches hand rats and squirrels a path inside. Decorative vines need the closest watch. Trees growing into power, phone or cable lines are a job for the utility.

Spring growth comes back fast, so I trim again in early summer.

Grit in the tracks makes every slide harder. Wipe them clean, then use a PTFE lubricant, a dry lubricant made for this. WD-40 collects dirt, and silicone ends up smeared on the glass.

Western subterranean termites swarm in spring or fall on clear days after a soaking rain, according to UC IPM. Look for mud tubes on the foundation and keep wood at least 12 inches above the soil. Drywood termites leave six-sided pellets. UC IPM recommends a professional inspection every three to five years.

If you see mud-like structures indoors or a sudden swarm of flying insects, call a pest control company and bring all your checkbooks. Ants, spiders and moths arrive with warm weather too, and they are the easy ones.

This Old House says to inspect a deck once a year. Tighten loose screws and nails, and push a screwdriver into suspect boards: if it sinks more than a quarter inch, the wood has rotted. The ledger board should be held to the house with lag screws or through-bolts, never nails. Dry rot is a fungus and spreads if left alone.

Sprinkle water on the boards. If it soaks in instead of beading, the deck needs another coat of stain or sealer.

Fix new cracks and heaving; in freezing climates, reseal before winter, since water in a crack expands as it freezes.

Run each zone and walk it, looking for broken heads, leaks and spray hitting the house. Wet wood rots and draws termites. Heads that mist instead of spray mean the pressure is too high. The EPA WaterSense program says a WaterSense-labeled controller can save up to 25,000 gallons and $280 over a six-month watering season.

Clean the dust and cobwebs, check the windows for cracks, and look over the weather seals. A garage is a common way in for mice and rats, and the spiders that nest there migrate into the house. If rodents have found a way in, my guide to rodent exclusion covers sealing every gap.

Screw a water pressure gauge onto a hose bib and open it fully. This Old House puts the ideal range at 40 to 60 psi and calls anything over 80 high; Family Handyman says 45 to 55. High pressure damages water heaters, softeners, faucets and seals, and it can void warranties.

If the house has a pressure-reducing valve where the main comes in, it usually ships set to 50 psi, and Family Handyman says they fail at 10 to 20 years. A sudden rise in pressure is the usual sign. The gauge also helps track down a blockage.

Before any lubricant, go over the door with a ratchet and screwdriver and tighten every nut and bolt. Check the rollers for wear; nylon rollers show it as cracks and chips.

Use white lithium grease and nothing else. Grease the chain, the steel hinges at their pivots and the roller bearings, and leave anything nylon or plastic dry. Hold a piece of cardboard behind each spot to catch overspray. WD-40 only attracts dirt.

Replace the bottom weather seal if it is torn. With the door closed, pull the release cord and lift it by hand: a balanced door stays put when you let go partway up. One that drops or rises needs a professional.

Rheem and A. O. Smith both call for a flush once a year, and twice a year with hard water. Turn off the power or gas and the cold supply, run a hose from the drain valve, open a hot tap, and drain the tank until the water runs clear. Close up, refill with the hot tap open, and restore power only once water flows steadily. Sediment left in the tank costs efficiency and ends tanks early; a $40 flush I put off during my first two years in this house ended as a $1,200 emergency replacement.

Pull the anode rod while the tank is empty. A. O. Smith says to replace it once 6 inches of the core wire shows. Test the temperature and pressure relief valve, and set the thermostat to 120°F, the NFPA scald guideline.

If the tank is due for replacement, I documented my heat pump water heater installation with the Sacramento rebates that lowered the cost. The same SMUD program required an approved smart thermostat, covered in my ecobee Premium install on a Mitsubishi heat pump.

Open every heating vent and move furniture off them, and check doors and windows for drafts. The NFPA says to have fuel-burning heating equipment inspected every year, and ENERGY STAR ties the heating check-up to fall.

Hang a spare furnace fuse by the unit; mine sits sealed in its package on a nail beside the furnace.

Pull window units and store them. Cover an outdoor condenser with a tarp or plastic sheeting held by bungee cords, or with a cover made for AC units, which costs about the same and goes on faster.

In cold climates, cut the power to the unit so it cannot start in freezing weather, which damages it. Some units have a crankcase heater, and its warmth draws rodents. Restore power at least 24 hours before running it again.

NFPA 211 calls for chimneys, fireplaces and vents to be inspected at least once a year, and the Chimney Safety Institute of America says to sweep a masonry fireplace at 1/8 inch of soot. Buildup left in the flue is how chimney fires start.

To sweep it yourself, measure the flue and buy a chimney brush to fit, on fiberglass rods. I found the kit easier than buying the pieces separately. Tape plastic sheeting across the bottom of the fireplace, close its doors, and on a gas unit cover the logs and piping. That prep is the hardest part of the job.

On the roof, wear safety glasses and gloves and take off the chimney cap, usually a few screws. Push the brush down, scrubbing up and down, adding rods as you go, then work it back up the same way. Turn your head away as the brush comes out of the flue, or you will eat soot. Repeat several times, wait about 30 minutes for the dust to settle, then vacuum or bag the sheeting and check the flue with a flashlight.

Look for loose shingles, broken tiles, soft spots underfoot and failing caulk around roof vents. The rubber boots on roof jacks break down over time; replace them or reseal them. A roofer costs less in the off-season than in the middle of a downpour.

Climb into the attic during or right after the first rain of the season to find leaks from the inside. If the roof is due, read Roof Replacement: Questions to Ask a Roofer first.

Pour a bucket of water into the pit and make sure the sump pump starts and empties it; This Old House says to test at least twice a year, ahead of the rainy season. If it does not start, check the plug, then the breaker, then the discharge line for a clog. Make sure the discharge runs away from the house.

A battery backup runs the pump through storm outages; test it every three months.

Check the mounting points, the caulk and the seal. Joints loosen with temperature swings; tighten them or fill them with aluminum repair compound. After enough seasons, new storm windows restore the seal at a fraction of the cost of replacement windows.

Hairline cracks open in stucco over time and let water into the wall. With a chisel and hammer, widen the crack to a quarter inch, with the sides square to the wall and the base a little wider than the opening. Clean out loose material with a wire brush.

Fill it with stucco repair compound from a caulk gun, trowel it to match the texture around it, let it cure 24 hours and touch up the paint. The patch keeps some flex after it cures.

Dig leaves and dirt out of window wells; the buildup shows sooner against wood frames. Vinyl windows and sliders drain through small weep holes along the bottom. Clear them with a wire or compressed air and pour a glass of water from above to confirm they drain, even under deep eaves.

On a hot water radiator, fins that stay cold while the rest heat up mean trapped air. Open the small valve at the top with a radiator key, a 1/4-inch 12-point socket or a flat screwdriver, or use a radiator key set, turning counterclockwise until water drips.

Bleeding drops the system pressure, so add water by opening and closing the fill valve above the boiler. Plan on 1 pound of pressure for every 2 feet of rise; a two-story house with the boiler in the basement needs 12 to 15 pounds, or 25 to 30 feet, on the gauge.

Steam radiators have an air vent partway down the side that often gets painted shut. Clear the hole at the top of the vent with a fine wire or a sewing needle.

Turn every fixture shutoff all the way off and back on: washer, dishwasher, toilets and sinks. A valve that never moves seizes in place and fails the day you need it.

This Old House recommends replacing an old gate valve at the main with a ball valve. If the main will not budge, call a plumber before forcing it and flooding the house.

The EPA says to have a septic system inspected at least every three years and pumped every three to five. Between visits, flush every toilet and run every tap to confirm everything drains, and look for puddles or unusually green grass over the lines.

With the cover off, check the water level while water runs and again once it stops. A septic dye shows how much water enters the tank, how fast, and whether anything blocks it.

In Sacramento and the rest of the valley, the UC Master Gardeners of Placer County say to turn off the sprinkler system and drain the lines. Shut off the hose bibs and any other outdoor water source a freeze can reach, and drain and coil the hoses.

Hard-freeze climates blow the lines out with an air compressor regulated to 80 psi for PVC pipe and 50 psi for black polyethylene. Shut off the water, set the timer to open one zone, and open that zone’s manual drain if it has one. Close both valves on the backflow preventer, swap the blow-out port plug for a quick-connect adapter and hook up the compressor. The heads pop up and spit water; disconnect as soon as they run dry.

Without water cooling them, the plastic gears in the heads can melt in under a minute, so keep each zone brief and let the heads cool while you move on. Finish with a second quick pass through every zone.

De-icing cables along the roof edge keep ice dams from forming. Once a ridge of ice builds, meltwater backs up under the roofing.

Knock icicles down while they are small. They fall on people, add weight to the gutters and soak the foundation when they melt. Restock ice melt and replace worn shovels before the first storm.

Look for new cracks, and check the crawlspace after heavy rain to make sure it stays bone-dry. In snow country, closing the foundation vents for winter helps keep the floors warm; everywhere else they stay open for airflow.

When the caulk around a tub or shower separates or breaks down, remove every bit of the old bead before laying new mildew-resistant silicone caulk.

Seal the grout with a grout roller applicator. My bathrooms have small tiles and a lot of grout lines, and after sealing them I would choose larger tile next time. Sealed grout resists stains and mildew.

Granite, marble, concrete and wood each have their own sealing schedule; reseal when water stops beading on the surface.

Walk the house with a flathead and a Phillips screwdriver and tighten loose handles, knobs and racks. Test every door and window lock. A locksmith repair often costs less than a new lock, and windows may carry a lifetime warranty, so check before paying.

Every adult in the house should know where these are and how to turn them off:

• The heating fuel or gas main shutoff.
• The main electrical panel.
• The main water shutoff, with a wrench big enough to turn it stored nearby.
• The water shutoffs for toilets, sinks and the washing machine.
• The fire extinguishers in the kitchen and garage.

I check outlets with a 3-prong receptacle tester. My house still has plenty of two-prong outlets, so on those I just make sure the plug holds tight. A plug that falls out means the receptacle needs replacing.

This non-contact tester is one of my favorite tools. It finds which wires and which points along a run are live without touching anything.

Gutters carry roof water away from the foundation and protect the slab from cracking. Replace worn rubber washers on hoses and outdoor faucets before the drips soak the foundation. Run the bathroom fan or open a window during every shower to keep condensation and mildew down.

Keep extension cords and power strips under their rated load, and store paint and other flammable liquids away from the furnace and water heater. Rags soaked in oil-based stain or polish can catch fire on their own as they dry; spread them flat outdoors or seal them in a metal can of water.

Pick two ways out of every room, and walk them with the household at least once a year. On a multi-story house, ask the local fire station to help plan the upstairs exits.