A Simple Home Maintenance Checklist for Every Season

Almost every expensive home repair starts as a cheap one that nobody noticed. A blocked gutter becomes a damp wall. A dripping tap becomes a stained ceiling. None of it is dramatic at the point where it would have been easy to fix.

An hour or two each season catches most of it. Here is what to look at and when.

Spring

Clear the gutters and downpipes. Winter fills them with leaves and debris, and blocked gutters are behind a large share of damp problems.
Look at the roof from the ground. Binoculars are fine. You are checking for slipped or missing tiles and anything growing where it should not.
Check outside taps and pipes for splits after the cold.
Open and inspect windows. Look for failed seals, condensation between panes, and rotting frames on wooden windows.
Clear air bricks and vents of leaves and soil. Blocked ventilation causes damp.
Service the lawnmower and outdoor tools before the first weekend you need them.

Summer

Check exterior paint and woodwork while it is dry enough to repair. Small patches now, not a full repaint later.
Look at fences, gates and decking for rot at ground level.
Cut back planting touching the house. Climbers and shrubs against walls hold moisture and give pests a route in.
Clean and check fans and air conditioning filters.
Test the heating briefly. Ten minutes in July is how you discover a problem while an engineer is still available at short notice.

Autumn

Book the boiler or heating service. Do it early — everyone books in October, and availability disappears.
Have the chimney swept if you use a fireplace or wood burner.
Clear gutters again once most leaves are down.
Find and block draughts. Letterboxes, loft hatches, gaps under doors, unused fireplaces. Cheap to fix and immediately noticeable.
Check loft insulation is even and has not been compressed by storage.
Bleed the radiators if the tops stay cold.

Winter

Know where the stopcock is and check it turns. The night a pipe bursts is the wrong time to find out.
Lag exposed pipes in the loft, garage and outbuildings.
Check for condensation and damp on cold walls, behind furniture and in corners. Wipe it, improve ventilation, and watch it.
Test smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and change batteries.
Keep the basics in one place — torch, spare batteries, a few candles, a portable phone charger.

Monthly, all year

Test smoke alarms — it takes ten seconds
Run water in unused sinks and showers to keep traps from drying out and letting smells through
Check under sinks for slow leaks; a dry cloth left in place shows you quickly
Clean extractor and tumble dryer filters
Look at the water meter with everything off — a moving dial means a leak somewhere

What to do yourself, and what not to

Sensible to do yourself: gutters at low level, draught-proofing, bleeding radiators, filters, sealant around baths and sinks, general inspection.

Worth paying for: anything involving gas, electrical work beyond changing a bulb or a fitting you are competent with, roof work at height, structural cracks, and any persistent damp where you cannot identify the source. The money you save doing these yourself is small; the potential cost of getting them wrong is not.

If you rent, most of this list is your landlord's responsibility. Your job is to report problems early and in writing — a text or email creates a record, and early reports are what stop small issues becoming disputes.

Keep a record

A single note on your phone with dates is enough: when the boiler was serviced, when the gutters were last cleared, which tap started dripping and when.

It takes a minute and it pays back twice — you stop wondering whether something is overdue, and you have a history to hand when you sell, or when a tradesperson asks how long something has been happening.

None of this is interesting work. It is the reason the interesting work never becomes necessary.