The cheapest home maintenance is the work you do before winter rather than during it. Clear the gutters and valleys, check the roof fixings, seal exposed timber, sort the drainage away from the house, and deal with anything already soft or rotten. Most of the list is an afternoon, and it prevents the repairs that are not.
Winter does not create most home maintenance problems. It finds the ones that were already there. This is the short list worth clearing before it arrives.
The list
- Clear the gutters and downpipes. The single highest value job on here. Blocked gutters are how water gets into fascia boards, soffits and framing.
- Clear the roof valleys. Debris packs into valleys and stops water draining, which pushes it sideways under the sheets.
- Check the roof fixings and flashings. Fixings back out over time, flashings lift, ridge capping loosens. All cheap to sort now, all leaks later.
- Treat moss and lichen. It holds moisture against the roof surface. Treat it rather than blasting it off.
- Seal exposed timber. Decks, fences and outdoor furniture that have gone grey are absorbing water. A coat before winter buys you years.
- Check drainage away from the house. Where do your downpipes actually discharge? Water dumped repeatedly against a foundation or a path is a slow, expensive problem.
- Replace anything already soft. A rotten weatherboard or a spongy deck board will not improve over winter. It will spread.
- Check the door and window seals. Draughts are a comfort and a power bill issue, and water getting past a failed seal is a repair issue.
- Clear the section back off the house. Planting that touches cladding holds moisture against it and gives everything a bridge indoors.
Why autumn specifically
Two reasons. The leaves are down, so clearing gutters in autumn actually stays clear. And the weather is still good enough to do exterior work properly, which matters for anything involving sealant, oil or paint that needs to cure.
Leave it until it is already raining and half the list becomes impossible to do well.
Be realistic about what is DIY
Plenty of this is genuinely a weekend job if you are reasonably handy and your house is single storey. Sealing a deck, clearing planting back, checking seals.
The parts worth thinking twice about are the ones at height on a wet surface. Gutters, valleys, roof fixings and moss treatment all involve being somewhere slippery above ground level, and ladder accidents are the most common serious home injury there is.
Or just send the list
If it is easier, send me the whole lot and I will work through it in one visit. That is cheaper than booking separate trades for separate items, and you get told honestly if something on the list does not actually need doing.
Get a free quote and put a line through it before the weather turns.