It’s officially spring! Is your house ready for the summer months? Now is the time to do any routine maintenance. Once it gets too hot out, you won’t be able to do much outdoors beside run from the air-conditioned car into your air-conditioned house.
One of your many pre-summer chores involves getting your home siding in top condition. The winter weather can be brutal on it, so you’ll need to set aside a weekend to handle this multi-step process.
Examine Your Siding Well
It all starts with examining your siding. As we already mentioned, the winter weather can be very tough on it. The high winds can knock pieces loose, and if any water ends up getting behind the siding due to cracks, it could freeze and then expand, causing those small cracks to get larger.
Once the weather breaks, you’ll need to head outside and take a good look at every inch of your siding. Look for cracks, sections that are peeling, and edges that have come loose. These are all things that will need to be prepared before summer hits.
Check the Areas around Your Windows
In addition to examining your siding very closely, you also need to check the areas near your windows. These are a bit more sturdy than the main sheathing that covers your walls, but they also need to be in good shape.
You might find cracks in these areas that can affect the integrity of your windows and your walls. As with the other portions of your siding, any issues here need to be repaired before the weather turns hot. You definitely need to have every inch of your siding prepared for summer months when the sun is beating down on it.
Do Any Needed Repairs
Repairs are the next step. Remove any broken or chipped pieces of siding and replace them with new ones. Although this sounds easy, there’s a bit of a downside to it. If you aren’t able to match the substitute pieces to your current siding, you’ll need to replace all of the siding on your house.
Otherwise, you’ll have some obviously mismatched pieces. Thankfully, you might just have to tack down some of the pieces that aren’t adhered properly and repair some cracks. It all depends on how many weather changes your siding went through this past winter.
Reinforce the Corner and Top Pieces
Next, it’s time to reinforce those corner and top pieces, as well as the ones that attach to your window edging. These sections of siding tend to come loose now and then, and since they’re really the only things anchoring your siding in place when they’re loose, you could have some major problems on your hand.
Anchor the siding at the top of the walls (remember that the pieces attached to it snap into place) and pay extra attention to the corners, where the edge pieces sit. They prevent water and other things from ending up under your siding, so it’s crucial that they are firmly anchored to your home.
Use a Power Washer
Once the repairs are done, it’s time to bring out the power washer. These are useful devices that hook up to your home’s water supply where the standard hose usually goes. The power washer sprays water at a high rate of pressure (hence its name) and it can remove a lot of dirt and debris.
Your home will look nice again after you use it. However, be careful when spraying windows with it, as the pressure might be too much for them. You’re really better off using it only on the solid surfaces of your home, as well as any porches and decks.
Repaint it if needed
Although you shouldn’t paint every type of siding (really, only wood-based siding needs to be painted) you might want to touch up the color of it, especially if you find any parts of it to be peeling. Painting is definitely not a summer job since the humidity will prevent the paint from adhering and drying properly.
Note that if your siding is peeling and is the type that shouldn’t be painted, you’ll need to replace those sections of it entirely. As long as you can find a color match for them, you won’t need to replace all of the siding on your house.
Overall, the siding on your home needs to be properly cared for and maintained. This involves taking the time once winter ends to examine it and make any needed repairs.
Once those repairs are completed, you can bring out the power washer and clean everything well, before going back out there with a paintbrush if necessary. All of this needs to be done before summer hits because once the weather gets too hot, it’s too late for this type of home maintenance.