We have had the joy of experiencing two seasons this year; winter and summer.

We skipped spring and fall altogether, and it took many of us off guard and we helplessly watched the snow accumulate on our homes.

We were caught without firewood which is never a good thing, thinking we had a few weeks before the snow fell so it was my poor hubby out in the snowstorm gathering wood to chop and let dry.

It was a good thing he fixed our roof venting and furnace a few weeks ago otherwise we would be literally freezing our buns off!

Fall is always a good time to perform home maintenance and sometimes we get caught unprepared (our garden hose was still on the lawn and is now under a foot of snow).

If this breaks for us and the snow melts, I encourage you to hustle and get some essential things done before the weather pours down on us again.

The importance of checking around your home in the fall will discourage damage in the winter months and give you less headaches in the spring of 2019.

Get up on your roof, pick a warm(ish) sunny day and get up there!

Check roof vents, vent caps, shingles and gutters. Our vent cap for our furnace was completely eroded through and we never would have seen it from the vantage point of the ground.

Inspect your shingles to make sure they are secure and none are lifting, inspect valleys in your roofline where two pitches meet and ensure that those areas are covered and protected to prevent ice dams and freezing.

Clean the gutters, it’s an awful job but very necessary before water runs in them and then freezes.

I saw one home with severe water damage because the gutters were full of leaves and water ran and froze, expanded and then when it melted, the water poured out over the edge of the gutter instead of travelling to the downspouts and away from the home.

Check on every place you have a roof vent/ furnace/stove stack to ensure that the shingles are tight and that any flashing around the pipe is secure. This will prevent possible damage from driving snow or freezing.

Do as I say and not as I do and put your hose away, making sure it is drained.

Turn off outside water taps and make sure that any water to the outside of the house has been terminated. This is a good time to check the dryer vent exit from your home to clear away any lingering lint (I hate it when lint lingers) and re-seal the vent to the wall to prevent condensation from creeping back into the home.

When the dryer that is spewing warm air meets cold air, things can get very moist and that can build up and cause damage to the area around the dryer vent.

I’m very hopeful that we will get a few nice days soon and that we can all rush out and do a bit of fall maintenance.

It can’t go from summer right on to winter, can it?

Oh wait, that’s what happened this spring – we missed it altogether!

While you are on your roof, maybe hang up your Christmas lights, too. It will save you a chilly trip up the ladder in November!

Kim Wyse is a Central Alberta freelance designer. Find her on facebook at ‘Kim Wyse Associate Royal Lepage Tamarack Trail Realty’.