It's Time to Prep for Fall!
By Chris Petry
We made it! Summer is almost over (insert maniacal laughter here). Sorry, but I can’t help but excited for this heat to pass. Summer has to be the most overrated season there is. I’m convinced most people decided they loved summer in childhood because they got out of school for three months.
In adulthood, it’s hard to see the upside. You can use your PTO days any time of year. The warm, or more appropriately, scorching hot days are mostly observed from your office window unless, of course, you work outside. Then you get the “pleasure” of basking in it all day, fight flies and sunburn. Speaking of flies, I hate em.’ Is there a more annoying creature on planet Earth? Any season where they’re fully present, I’m out. In the fall and winter, you can throw on a sweatshirt, breathe in the crisp fresh air, and delight in autumnal aromatics far superior to sunblock, BO, sweltering tar, and fly-swarmed residential waste. Don’t even get me started on fashion.
All joking aside, like it or not, fall is just around the corner. Less than a week! So, what should you be doing to prepare for the changing of the seasons?
Home prep
Basic maintenance, cleaning, and weatherproofing should take center stage as you prepare your home for autumn. Specific tasks might include:
Fill any cracks in brick, masonry or stone. This will help keep pests out and treated air in.
Re-caulk or seal windows and doorframes. Again, it will prevent any unwanted guests while helping your home maintain its optimal temperature.
Do a deep clean. Much like spring, fall is a great time to take stock of your possessions, clean out the pantry and freezer, power wash decks and siding, and clean up clutter dens like basements, garages, attics and sheds.
Touch up chipped, cracked, or faded paint.
If you have a wood burn stove, now’s the time to get to some serious chopping and stacking.
Trim hedges, pull weeds, edge walkways, and prune or trim out of season bushes and flowers.
Schedule a cleaning of your HVAC system.
Put the hose away by Halloween. Usually, temperatures hit freezing overnight around that point.
Inspect the roof for missing shingles, indentations, or other abnormalities that might lead to failure as the precipitation increases.
Get out your fall décor
You don’t have to jump straight into spooky season if you don’t want to. I mean, I stay decorated for Halloween year-round but that’s just me. Still, you can spruce up your home and make it seasonally-appropriate by including some pumpkins, mums, cornstalks, etc. into your décor. Inside and out, of course. Home decorated for the season have a special curb appeal which appeals to potential buyers, if your home is indeed on the market. It’s cozy, warm, and inviting. So, light that pumpkin spice candle already!
So, there you have it. It’s pretty simple. Fall’s coming fast and you need to be prepared. Take a minute to bask in the grief of the dying summer, but just a minute, and get ready for falling leaves. I, for one, cannot wait.
