Five things to check around your home before summer

The Bay of Plenty is hard on houses. Salt air, strong sun and wet winters all take their toll, and the jobs that get left tend to turn into bigger ones. Heading into the warmer months is the right time to walk around your place and check a few things before small problems become expensive.

Here are five worth looking at.

1. Clear your gutters and downpipes

Blocked gutters push water back under the roofline and into the fascia and soffits. That is one of the most common ways rot gets started. Clear out the leaves and flush them through, and while you are up there, look for sagging runs or joints that have let go.

2. Give the exterior a wash

A year of grime, salt and mould sitting on your cladding breaks the paint film down faster. A soft wash lifts it off, makes the house look sharp again, and lets you spot anything that needs attention underneath.

3. Check your decks and fences

Push on your deck boards and handrails and check your fence posts at the base. Movement, soft spots or lifting fixings are the early signs. Caught early these are a quick fix, left alone they become a rebuild.

4. Look over your paintwork

Walk the exterior and look for cracked, peeling or chalky paint, especially on the weather-facing walls and around windows. Paint is your cladding's protection. Once it fails, the timber behind it is exposed, so a maintenance recoat at the right time saves you far more down the track.

5. Check seals and flashings around windows and doors

Cracked sealant and lifted flashings are small, cheap things that let water in where you cannot see it. A quick look around every window and door, and the odd re-seal, keeps the weather where it belongs.

Would rather someone just sorted it?

If a walk around your place turns up more than you want to take on, we handle all of it: gutter clears, exterior washes, deck and fence repairs, maintenance painting and weathertightness work across Tauranga, Mount Maunganui and Papamoa. Give us a call and we will take it off your list.