Spring is in the air, and with it comes thoughts of decluttering and landscaping. As you open up your windows to air out your home, your thoughts turn to spring cleaning. While you likely have a long list of spring cleaning tasks for inside your home, don’t forget about the outside. In this series we will talk about four ways to spruce up your home’s exterior this spring.

This winter has been a particularly interesting one in the greater Charlotte area with more snow than normal, and the changing temperatures and precipitation have likely done a number on your yard and your home’s exterior.

As you get ready for the summer, it’s time to take a closer look at your home, starting at the top and working your way down, to spruce it up a bit. Let’s start by taking some time to clean up your roof.

Spring Means Roof Inspections

Grab a ladder and head outside, it’s time to inspect your roof. The rain, rare snow, ice and wind that bombarded your home in the winter months took a toll on your shingles and roofing materials. If you ignore this, you’re setting yourself up for leaks when the spring rains come battering down on your roof. Preventative maintenance is the key to avoiding costly repairs.

Once you are up there, take a close look at the shingles and flashing. Signs of problems include:

• Buckling, blistering or curling shingles
• Worn areas around pipes, lights or chimneys
• Cracked caulk on flashing
• Rust spots on flashing
• Sand-like granules on tiles or in gutters
• Large amounts of moss or lichen

If you notice any of these problems, you’ll want to contact a roofing professional for help.

Clean up Your Roof

Once you’ve inspected your roof and given it a clean bill of health, it’s time to clean up a bit. Remove fallen branches, leaves and other debris from the roof deck, around the chimneys and around the vents. Then, move to the gutters. After a long winter, they might be nasty, but you need to remove the sludge and dead leaves to be ready for spring rains. If you want to avoid the task of cleaning out your gutters next year, consider installing some gutter guards now, before the pollen and tree buds start to fall and clog up your gutters again.

After cleaning the gutters, grab a hose and run some water through them, checking for leaks. Repair any leaks you find so your gutters will be ready for spring.

All it takes is an afternoon to spruce up your roof and get it ready for the spring and summer months. By doing so, you’ll help increase its longevity.

The roof is just the first step in spring cleaning your home’s exterior. Now that your roof is clean, let’s take a few steps down the ladder and talk about cleaning up those windows.