April Monthly Household Checklist

By admin on Apr 6, 2010 in Tips and Tricks

Welcome to April in the Pacific Northwest. About this time, we’re beginning to think that the rain will never end and that we all want to get out more. Baseball season is starting. And everything in the yard is growing like crazy. Here are a few things you can do now to keep on top of the work.

Grass – Check for areas in lawn that need to be seeded and patched. Each Spring I overseed my lawn with new grass seed, cover with a light topping of mulch or peat moss, and fertilize. The new bright green grass will really give your lawn a boost, and best of all the thick lawn will keep the weeds at bay.
Weeds – Speaking of weeds, pull ’em now. And if they are in the lawn try pulling them by hand, not with a weed-killing chemical. I sometimes use a screwdriver or one of those weed popping devices you see on TV. Yeah, it actually works. Best of all, if you show the kids how to use it, they think it is cool and fun, for at least a minute or two.
Fertilizer – If you didn’t do it in March, be sure to fertilize your plants. Triple sixteen (16/16/16) generic fertilizer is a great all-purpose fertilizer, and it sure helps remove the clutter from the garage. How many of you have 10 bags of different fertilizers half full? Just use the triple 16 from now on and simplify your life. For plants and grass!
Windows – Wash the inside of your windows. Save the outside for better weather.
HVAC – Change filters on your heater/heat pump. Have your heating and cooling system serviced. Check back in a week or two…we plan on giving away a free maintenance service to a Facebook friend in the Portland/Vancouver area.
Exterior Paint – Thinking of painting the exterior of your home? Give us a call. While not widely publicized, we do exterior home painting in-house and offer a 7-year warranty. Yes, 7 years. No one else offers that.
Fire Extinguisher – Do you have a fire extinguisher in your home? Do you know where it is? Has it been checked in the last few years for proper operation. Now is the time to do that. And if you don’t have one (or a few), consider getting one for each floor of the home and the garage. And of course make sure everyone knows where they are.
Pressure Washing – My only recommendation here is be careful! Most people do more damage than good, so consider skipping the pressure washing altogether. Do you really need a perfectly clean sidewalk? Remember when you were a kid? Dad didn’t have a pressure washer, the sidewalk looked fine, and probably lasted longer because he wasn’t shooting high pressure water into it. Consider saving yourself time and money in the long run and skipping the pressure washing this year. But if you decide to get out the pressure washer, back off a little this year. And if you are using it to clean wood, siding or roofing, think about the fact that if you over do it you are applying water to your home in places that were designed to keep water out – but they were not designed to keep it out at a force of over 1,500 PSI! That’s it, I will get off my pressure washer soapbox.