4 Seasons: the unique challenges every home faces

For all four seasons, your home will be facing fresh challenges to it’s stoic fortress nature. Contrary to what you might think, a wooden home is not that far off from a brick home. Both have unique challenges that they must overcome if they are to stay intact during the year. However, all the seasons have to be thought of as separate challenges to your home while also, being thought of as one part of one timeline. It’s hard to wrap your head around this but consider it like your body. When your arms are exercising, even though it’s your arms that are feeling the strain of those press-ups, the rest of your body is feeling them too. Your heart rate goes up and your core and mental strength is tested as well. This is how we’ll approach these challenges.

The challenges of spring

During the spring but also the summer, your home will play host to critters and all sorts of other things like pollen and insect eggs flying through the air. Although the challenges aren’t as bad as summer in terms of action upon your home, there is still pressure in other areas.

Pests in the home

During the spring, many pests will be emerging from their nests and eggs, to try and find a new home and something to eat. This is the prime breeding season for insects and bugs, as they will look to eat well in the summer and store up food, but only after they have mated. Here is what you can do.

• pest-proof your home with these tips. You will need to make sure that firewood is stored away from the home so termites don’t eat your home alive. Keep your kitchen clean so creepy crawlies do not find their way to food that has not been eaten fully. And make a birdhouse so you can allow a natural cleanup machine to stop critters from getting inside.
• Another way to stop critters from entering the home is to put odorless bug treatment across the door frames and on the welcome mat. This is so that during the night when the majority of spiders, cockroaches and termites are wandering around, they will not want to cross into your home.
• Always pay attention to signs of activity related to bugs. This could be cobwebs, droppings, or dead insects that have either been killed from fighting or been stepped on without you knowing.

Pollen denier

Pollen sticks to the outside of your home. It’s essentially a giant block of wood and concrete. This is how your garden can become covered in pollen making it hard for you to enjoy being outside if you have allergies.

• Pressure wash the pollen off the outside of your home. This can prevent the pollen from mixing with rain and sticking to the outside of your doors, windows and other structures like decking.
• Keep your windows and doors closed during the day when the winds are most likely to be blowing. Even if you need to open your windows, just crack them open slightly.
• Remove carpets from the doors and remove mats as well. They can store pollen.

Humid air

The spring also brings with it sudden hot weather. It’s easy to be caught off guard because summer is usually when we expect humid air. Here is what you can do.

• Buy a ceiling fan if you haven’t got one. They can be fitted to any room, and they can usually be done so, in a day. It allows the entire room to stay cool, and it won’t cost you a lot to run.
• Don’t leave food and water out for too long. When it dries the moisture will be sent into the air creating horrid stuffy air.

The summer challenges

Cracking concrete

During the summer, your home is going to be baking. Every surface that is not covered in shade, will be roasting. That is something that poses a threat to the structure of the floor. Concrete driveways are especially susceptible to deforming, cracking and become very coarse. But you can prevent this with a few simple steps.

• Curing the concrete is a good idea. This is when you drench the driveway in water for up to 15 minutes. This allows the concrete to soak up the water and then release it as the sun beats down.
• Add some joint control parting strips. This can prevent expansion or contraction from a neighboring slab to affect each other.
• Put in new slabs of concrete if you can. If you know that some slabs are really old and tired, then new ones will add to the rigidity of the driveway preventing further cracking.

Preparing decking

During the summer, wooden boards also tend to want to crack. For your wooden decking this can cause splinters to erupt even though there might not be an obvious crack showing. So here are some ways to care for decking in summer.

• Sand the boards down. Making them smoother, prevents cracks from taking shape.
• Give them a good coating of fresh paint. This will prevent the wood underneath from drying out.
• Put some shading over the decking such as a table with an umbrella. Not only does it make a nicer place to sit, but it will keep the decking from roasting.
• Hose the decking down just like you did with the concrete. Absorbing water and then releasing it prevents the wood from drying up and splitting.

Challenges of winter

Winter is not a mountain that you cannot climb. Every home will face very prominent challenges during winter but if you follow this advice you won’t have any doubts about your own property’s resilience.

Preparation for the house

• Check that your sump pump is working. This is what you will use to get rid of floodwater and is usually the only thing that will protect your home from this.
• Clean your dryer so you can continue to use it during the winter. Many of us use radiators to dry our clothes but for a family home, you need your dryer continually operating.
• Prevent ice dams by making sure that the attic is the same temperature throughout. This can be done by evenly distributing insulation and plugging any air leaks.

Your way out

Remember that you can only keep your cupboards stocked with food if you either allow the delivery service to get to you, or you can get out.

• Buy a strong metal shovel to hack at the ice and snow in your driveway, removing it in clumps.
• Buy a pressure washer that can operate from a bucket of water. Just in case the pipes are frozen, you can still use warm water to melt the ice on your driveway.
• You may want to also park your car on the street instead of the driveway. This can help you to get out easier in case you have a long driveway. But put stopper blocks behind the wheels to stop it from sliding.

Challenges of fall

During this season you will find that many of the things that we would consider to be harmless are anything but. Large piles of leaves might not seem like much but if they can get into the wrong places they can cause issues. Likewise, the sudden cold weather can harm your home too.

Inside the house

• Check if your smoke detectors are working. It will only take a few seconds and you will know that your home is protected from fires and also carbon monoxide poisoning.
• Clear the chimney. Tons of leaves could be trapped inside and this will prevent any smoke from your wood fire from clearing the home. You can do this by going onto the roof and using a leaf blower to blow down the chimney. Then go into the home and collect the debris and leaves that have been dislodged.

Outside the home

• Cut any trees down to size. You can really help yourself by cutting off the smaller branches that have most of the leaves on them. They will be dropping off or shrinking anyway in time for the winter.
• Make sure that you keep your driveway clear of leaves. When the rain and leaves mix, they can make it slippy for your car to get out.
• Get any of your garden equipment inside. The rain and winds can harm your equipment especially if it’s motorized. Debris and dirt are flying around and if you don’t at least cover your equipment, it can have trouble starting or working properly.

Every single season presents a unique set of challenges. Some of them can be solved quickly while others will need you to prepare in advance. Everything is within your grasp and your home can weather anything the weather throws at it if you know what you should be doing.