While immersing yourself in summertime activities, it’s important to set aside enough time to take care of home and yard chores. Here are 10 must-do items while summer’s in full swing.

• Air Conditioning Summer Maintenance

If you haven’t already, it’s imperative to have a professional check your air conditioning system. It’s working full time now, and you wouldn’t want to suffer without it. In addition, be diligent about changing filters on schedule. Outside, keep bushes trimmed away from condenser coils so they can breathe. Finally, the condensation drain line can become clogged. Look for the open-ended, vertical piece of white PVC pipe and pour a quarter cup of bleach in it to keep it clear.

• Conserve Water

Keeping your lawn and landscaping hydrated is key, but not at the expense of water conservation. Set sprinkler systems for regular watering at specific times, which controls usage. If you use a hose, be consistent with the amount and times you water. Adjust sprinkler heads to prevent inadvertent watering of sidewalks. Follow local ordinances regarding water conservation.

• Sprinkler Head and Moisture Sensor Maintenance

Replace or adjust any sprinkler heads that may have been damaged while mowing or trimming. If you don’t already have one, install a moisture detector to save on water after a rain.

• Gutter Check

Spring storms may strip leaves and small branches from trees. Check your house’s gutters for debris and clear them to allow for easy draining.

• Make Vacation Arrangements

Ask friends or neighbors to tend to indoor plants and pick up newspapers while you are on vacation. Arrange to board pets. Go to the United States Postal Service website to set dates to stop and restart your mail.

• Water Heater Maintenance

Periodically, sediment needs to be drained from the bottom of the water heater. Summer is a great time to do this. Out of your comfort zone? Call a licensed plumber.

• Transition Time

Break out the backpacks, calculators, and lunch bags for back-to-school time. Prepare a place at home for the kids to study and access a computer. Set aside the coolers and beach chairs for weekend use.

• Have Carpets Cleaned

Traffic in and out of the house peaks in summer and so does the dirt tracked inside. Summer’s end is the perfect time to have your carpets professionally cleaned so they look and smell good for the fall holidays.

• Eliminate Wasp and Bird Nests

By late summer, pull down abandoned bird’s nests and scrub the area with hot soapy water. For wasp nests, wait until just after dusk when wasps are becoming dormant, then use wasp spray that projects a stream of 20 feet. The next day, inspect to ensure the wasps are gone before pulling down the nest. If you are allergic to wasp stings, call a professional exterminator.

• Plant a Fall Garden

Harvest the last of your summer vegetables and prep the soil for planting a fall garden. Visit your garden center and choose vegetables that do well in your autumn climate.

Many homeowners attempt painting as a DIY project, thinking it does not require a high level of expertise. But there is more to painting than you might think. So let’s get you primed to paint with these professional painting tips.

Choosing paint

Consider your furnishings when choosing your paint color. Take fabric swatches or sofa cushions to the paint store or photos of your furniture, carpet and window treatments. Do not fully trust paint color charts at the store. Paint may look different under your home’s lighting than the store’s.

Latex paint is the popular choice for interior walls and exterior painting. Latex can be acrylic or water-based. You can paint trim and baseboards with either latex or oil-based paint. Oil-based paint should be used on cabinets and metals, although acrylic latex can be applied to metals with proper prep. 

Calculate how many gallons you need according to the area to cover. Then, buy an empty five-gallon pail for mixing. Rather than opening each gallon can and painting directly from it, stir the gallons together in the pail. The same color formula can differ slightly from can to can, so mixing them all together ensures a uniform look. 

Primer paint provides a base coat to which the finish coat is applied. Primer comes in both latex and oil-based finishes. A latex finish paint can adhere only to latex, not to oil-based primer. Oil-based paint can adhere to either latex or oil primer.

Shinier finishes such as semigloss or satin are easier to clean. Flat paint on the ceiling absorbs light, and eggshell on walls hides imperfections better than semigloss or satin.

Basic painting supplies

Do not skimp when buying painting tools and supplies. Quality materials will give you a better result and can be reused for your next paint job.

• Choose quality brushes and roller covers. Skip the $4.95 crude brush; the $25 latex or oil brush with quality bristles will do a much better job spreading the paint evenly. At the end of the job, wash your brush thoroughly.  A good brush, well cared for, can last many years.
• Choose a roller cover with the proper nap length. If you’re painting a textured wall, choose a lambswool roller cover for oil-based paints and one covered with synthetic material for latex. A three-quarter-inch nap will deliver paint evenly between the textured wall’s ridges and valleys. For flat surfaces, a foam roller and brushes work best.
• Buy painter’s tape, not masking tape, to protect the woodwork and ceiling as you paint walls. 
• You will also need a professional-grade putty knife, a paint roller tray with liners, and a thick, durable tarp for covering the floor.

Prepare properly for a professional look

If you skimp on prep, the look of your paint job will suffer, so spend two-thirds of your time preparing your walls.

• Mask carefully along baseboards, door frames, crown molding and the boundary between ceilings and walls. Use painter’s tape and masking paper to paint a perfect line along boundaries.
• If a wall already has many coats of paint, take time to sand it. Then dust the wall before applying new paint.
• Apply a coat of primer, especially when you’re applying a light color over a dark one.

Proper painting technique

Always “cut-in” with a brush along the edges of walls, door frames and windows before tackling the main body of the walls with a roller. Paint from top to bottom. Dip your brush one-third of the way into the paint, then shake slightly to let drips fall. Apply in smooth, long strokes. Hold the brush like you would a pencil and paint in a single long line to get the best control when cutting in next to masked areas. 

Push your roller into the paint until the roller cover is filled to about two-thirds of its paint-holding capacity. Then, roll from top to bottom in long, even strokes, overlapping slightly as you move from side to side. Use up two-thirds of the paint in the roller before replenishing. 

With both brush and roller, there is no need to bear down with pressure. Instead, let the paint tool do the work.

Remove the painters’ tape sooner rather than later. If you wait until the paint is dry, removing the tape may peel the paint away. So instead, pull before the paint has dried completely.

A gorgeous deck in the backyard is a place to relax with family and friends. Occasionally, though, you’ve heard news stories about elevated decks collapsing and injuring people. How can you ensure that your deck stays safe, or build a new one that is trustworthy? Here’s our guide to safe construction and deck maintenance.

Anatomy of a deck

Perhaps the most important part of the deck is the ledger board. This is the floor joist that attaches directly to the house and anchors the entire deck structure. The ledger board should be constructed with 2” x 8” beams, or 2” x 10” for larger decks capable of holding heavier loads. The bolts holding the ledger board to the house should penetrate deeply into the slab. If the house is attached to piers and beams or a basement, the bolts should penetrate outside masonry and the floor joists of the house.

The perimeter of the deck, called the rim or band, consists of outer floor joists matching the width and thickness of the ledger board. Joists resting on support posts should be built up by nailing or bolting together two or three beams. Floor joists not resting on posts can be a single beam.

Joists should be buttressed between one another with short blocking beams. Decks should have a row of blocking every eight feet. Each end of the floor joists should be attached to the ledger board and to the band perimeter with metal hangers appropriate for the height of the beams.

Deck support posts should either be cemented down 18 inches into the ground or seated on concrete footers on the ground.

Finally, the deck boards that create the floor should be nailed to, or preferably screwed down into, the joists. Railing and steps to the ground are attached to the band.

Permits and inspections

If you intend to build a new deck, it is vital that you get the proper permits from your local municipality. Your contractor will submit plans for approval, and an inspector from the city will check that it meets safe construction standards. Building without proper permits risks an unsafe deck, fines if your structure is found non-compliant, and complications selling the house later.

Deck maintenance for longevity

The average deck is built to last about 20 years. But proper deck maintenance requires you to inspect it every three to four years, or have a professional deck contractor check it.

If you opt to do your own deck maintenance, be sure to do the following when you inspect the deck.

• Grab various places and shake to check for loosened support: railings, the band around the perimeter of the deck, the support posts beneath and the stairs. Inspect support posts to ensure that they have not shifted or are no longer plumb (straight up and down).
• After rainfalls, look for places where water stands, especially against the house. Install flashing above the ledger board to prevent water from penetrating the house.
• Look for screws, nails, or bolts that have worked loose or are unstable in the wood. This indicates rot has weakened the wood. You can also check for rot by using a screwdriver to poke the wood around connecting points: the bolts through the ledger board, the hangers at each end of the joists, the blocking perpendicular to the floor joists. If you can easily sink the point of the screwdriver into the wood more than 1/16 of an inch, the wood may have rotted.
• Check to see if termites or carpenter ants have damaged the deck’s wood. Though a deck may have treated wood for the joists or posts, these wood-destroying insects may cross them to attack non-treated wood.

If you find joists that are soft because they have rotted or insects have damaged them, you will need to replace them. Make sure to screw or bolt them in securely.

One deck maintenance step that will protect wood is to clean, strip and restain or paint the deck at least every five years. Or apply a clear finish each year.

Other safety tips

• Wood is the best non-slip flooring material for a deck, followed by aluminum. Composite flooring and plastic offer less slip protection. Adding area rugs with non-slip undersides provide an extra layer of safety.
• Include lighting on deck stairs for safe nighttime navigation. Some cities’ construction codes require this. Be sure the lights are rated for outdoor use under wet conditions.
• Place grills on fire-resistant grill mats, away from the home’s eaves, tree limbs or umbrellas.
• If your deck is low to the ground, shine a light underneath it occasionally to check for possums, feral cats or other creatures that may have made a home there. Call animal control if you find a squatter living there.

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