April - Spring Cleaning / Maintenance Checklist

April is the first full month of spring, and shortly the kids will be getting out of school, everyone will be heading out on vacation, and it seems like our weekends will be filled with mowing the lawns and trying to get out of the dreaded honey-do lists. This is also the month that causes most men to run for the hills, supposedly to go pick up a new spark plug for the mower, leaving the kids to help mom out with the dreaded Spring Cleaning.

I remember when I was younger and I went over to visit one of my friends. “Hey what are you guys doing?” — “We are Spring Cleaning, come grab a…” Well, there went our day of fun, as I was roped into helping them out. I could not help but wonder, why do you only clean once a year? Well about two weeks later, the tables were turned. So now, I was left wondering, “Now wait just a minute, we clean our house every day – what is up with this?”

Unfortunately, there is no specific group or person we can blame for this seemingly odd custom that seemingly gets passed down from generation to generation. With a little foresight and planning though, we might be able to help get it over with just a little bit quicker.

Maintenance Checklist

• Change out your HVAC filter.
• Test your Smoke Detector
• Turn the switch on your ceiling fans to summer mode. While you are at it, now would be a good time to wipe the blades off on the ceiling fans with a slightly damp rag. If the housing is dusty, it should be vacuumed
• Get your AC system serviced, so that when it is needed it works. This is also a good time to review and see if a new unit would be a good option
• If the weather interrupted any of last month’s exterior projects, you might want to get them knocked out
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Gardening & Grounds Checklist

• Watch out for frost & hard freeze warnings (While rare in April, it has been known to happen as late as April 15^th in Alabama, which I happen to find a little ironic)
• The early part of April is about the last time you have to safely transplant trees, bushes and flowers without risking them to transplant shock.
• If you want to reseed your lawns and did not get it completed last month like we recommended, this is also the time to get it done before it gets to hot.
• If you have a sprinkler or watering system, it is time to get it going and tested.
• Tune up your mower, weed eaters, etc.… by following the manufacturer’s directions. Most of them will require that the oil, the air filter and spark plugs get changed out. You should also make sure that all the nuts & bolts are tight, nothing is bent, and that the blade(s) are sharpened.