Fall Home Maintenance Checklist for Kansas Homeowners

What should you do to your house before winter in Kansas?

Work through nine checks: garage door and driveway, lawn and trees, hoses and sprinklers, windows and doors, exterior caulk and siding, drafts, gutters, roof and flashing, then the furnace and your alarms. Do the outdoor ones before the first hard freeze. Book anything that involves gas, a chimney or wiring with a qualified pro.

The first freeze is not a date on the calendar. The National Weather Service Topeka office says Topeka’s earliest first freeze on record came on Sept. 22, 1995 and the latest on Nov. 21, 1944. So the window is wide, and it is also closing. If the freeze has not hit your yard yet, this is a good week to start.

A quick word before we start. This is a list of things to look at, not a list of diagnoses. We count down from nine, and number one is the one we would not skip.

Number nine: garage door and driveway

Stand in the garage and run the door up and down once. Does it move smoothly and stop and reverse the way it did last year? Look along the bottom edge for gaps or a worn rubber seal.

Then walk the driveway and take dated photos of any cracks. In spring, you can compare. (Your future self will thank you, and so will whoever you call.)

If the springs, cables or anything else on the door does not look or sound right, call a garage door pro. A concrete pro can tell you whether a crack is worth repairing now or can wait.

Next up: the lawn, which is more of a September story than you might expect.

Number eight: lawn and trees

Lawn timing depends on your grass type and your county, so go to the source. The Johnson County office of K-State Research and Extension says the ideal time to seed bluegrass and tall fescue lawns in the Kansas City area is early to mid-September. Johnson County also says to fertilize cool-season grasses such as Kentucky bluegrass and tall fescue in November.

Those are Johnson County dates, not Topeka dates. If September came and went, you have not failed. Ask your county K-State Research and Extension office what still makes sense for your grass type. A landscaper can help too.

For trees, look up. A tree pro can look at dead or hanging limbs over the roof, the driveway or power lines. For when to prune or plant, your county extension office is the place to ask.

Number seven: hoses and irrigation

Disconnect your garden hoses, drain them and store them for the winter. Then look at your outdoor spigots.

An in-ground sprinkler system is a different job from a hose. If you are not sure how to shut yours down for winter, a landscaping pro can do it, and that is a perfectly good call.

The freeze window above is your deadline. Do this before the first hard freeze, not after.

Number six: windows and doors

Open and close every window and exterior door. Do they latch? Do they stick? Do you see daylight around the edges? Check for cracked glass, torn screens and loose handles.

If you have storm windows or screens that swap out, this is the weekend to switch them. A handyman can handle small fixes such as a loose latch. A window pro can tell you whether a window is worth repairing or replacing.

Number five: exterior caulk and siding

Walk around the outside and look where different materials meet: around windows, around doors and along trim. Caulk that has cracked or pulled away is easy to spot. Re-caulking small gaps is a common do-it-yourself job.

Also look at the siding itself. Note any boards that are loose, cracked or missing, and any spot that looks soft or stained. You are not diagnosing anything. Write down where each one is and take a photo. A siding pro can look at anything bigger than a small gap.

Number four: sealing drafts

Check the weatherstripping around exterior doors and the door sweep along the bottom. On a windy day, hold the back of your hand near the edges of doors and windows and see if you feel moving air. Look around places where pipes or cables enter the house.

Weatherstripping and door sweeps are small parts that many people replace themselves. If you are not sure what an opening is for, ask an HVAC pro before you close it up.

Number three: gutters and downspouts

Look at the gutters and downspouts. Are they full of leaves and debris? Does each downspout empty away from the house? Do any sections sag or sit away from the wall?

Write down what you see and take a photo. If you are not comfortable on a ladder, hire it out. Gutter work sometimes shows up under roofing and sometimes under handyman, so check each listing’s own description to see what a business says it does.

Number two: roof and flashing, from the ground

Flashing is the thin metal that seals joints on a roof, such as around a chimney, a vent pipe or a valley where two roof planes meet.

From the ground, with binoculars if you have them, look for shingles that are missing, curled or cracked. Look for metal that has lifted or pulled away near the chimney and vents. Then check the ceilings and attic for new water stains.

Leave the climbing to a roofer. If you see something, a roofer can take a look. Write down what you saw and when, and take photos. It makes the call much shorter.

Number one: furnace, filter and alarms

This one stays plain, because it touches gas, fire and carbon monoxide.

Filter. Check your furnace’s manual or the filter itself for the size and how often to change it.

Service. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) says to have heating equipment and chimneys cleaned and inspected every year by a qualified professional. Book your HVAC service before the cold sets in. Anything involving gas lines, burners, the flue or a chimney belongs with a pro.

Alarms. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) says carbon monoxide (CO) alarms should be installed on each level of the home and outside sleeping areas. It also says to test alarms monthly and to replace the batteries once a year. Check the date and test yours now.

Gas, chimney and electrical. If you notice something odd about a chimney or have a wiring concern, call a licensed pro. For a gas smell, Kansas Gas Service says to leave the area immediately and then call 911 and 888-482-4950. If you get your gas from another utility, read its safety page now, before you need it.

Who to call: item by item

TopekaLocals lists home-service businesses by trade. Here is where to start for each item. A listing is not a recommendation or an endorsement of any business. You are choosing.

Item Directory category
Gutters and downspouts Roofing or Handyman
Roof and flashing Roofing
Furnace, filter and heating service HVAC
Outdoor spigots and pipes Plumbers
Wiring questions and outdoor electrical Electricians
Lawn, trees and sprinkler shutdown Landscaping
Windows, doors, caulk and siding Windows and Siding
Garage door Garage Doors
Driveway cracks Concrete
Small fixes and odd jobs Handyman

When you call, ask what is included, when they can come out and whether they will put the scope in writing. Compare two or three on those points. Our guide on hiring a contractor in Topeka goes through what to ask.

FAQ

When should I do fall home maintenance in Kansas?
Before the first hard freeze. NWS Topeka lists Sept. 22 as the earliest and Nov. 21 as the latest first freeze on record for Topeka, so plan for the whole window.

How often should a furnace be serviced?
NFPA says to have heating equipment and chimneys cleaned and inspected every year by a qualified professional.

Your next step

You have the list. Pick one item today, probably the alarms, and one for the weekend. When you are ready to call someone, here is where to start: Find the best contractor for your project. Browse the category, open two or three listings and compare what each business says about itself.

More guides are on the TopekaLocals blog. TopekaLocals is run by SEM By Design. Go easy on yourself and take it one item at a time.

Sources

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