Your Leisure Home Spring Maintenance Checklist

Having a spring maintenance checklist for your leisure home helps prevent missing out an important job. Even if you’re one of those people who can keep everything in their heads, having a checklist to refer to gives you the satisfaction of crossing off jobs when they’re done. You might find that breaking your list down into sections (like garden, external and interior for example) is a good idea. We start with the garden and the following tips could form the basis of your checklist.

As a condition of your leisure home insurance, you have a responsibility to keep up the maintenance of your leisure home. We hope that these tips will help you to keep the area around it in good condition too as well as reducing some of the risks.

Keep a schedule

Keeping an informed eye on your leisure home and the area around it can save you a lot of trouble later on, but the list of jobs could seem overwhelming. Therefore, you could spread your jobs out over the year to make them more manageable. In addition, some things in any case, are definitely best done at specific times of year. You might find a calendar with all your maintenance tasks scheduled on it useful. If you get used to carrying out regular checks and small repairs and replacement jobs as you go through the year you may find you prevent bigger problems forming.

Your Spring maintenance checklist

If you have an outside space that is your responsibility to maintain, then this checklist is for you. We will follow up this article with a spring maintenance checklist for your park home itself.

Trees and shrubs

Winter storms, heavy snow and high winds can cause damage to trees and shrubs and may create a hazard from falling limbs, for instance. Spring is a good time to give the nearby trees a check-up. You may need professional help for any substantial trees that need cutting back or making safe. Alternatively, you may need to inform the park management of any trees or shrubs that concern you.

Fences and gates

You can avoid problems later on if you detect any winter damage in your fencing or gates now. A small repair to one section now can help to prevent more extensive damage down the line. You might also prevent pets escaping or potential injury this way.

Paths and steps

You may only need a stiff brush and some oxygenated bleach to clean any moss and debris from your paths and steps after winter. Oxygenated bleach can be less harmful to the immediate environment than regular bleach. You can also benefit at spring time if you repair small cracks in surfaces and replace loose or broken slabs, tiles or bricks.

Decking

Your decking can also suffer from a build-up of debris and moss and again these should succumb to a stiff brush and bleach treatment. You can take advantage of the warmer, drier spring weather to fix or replace any sections where the weather has got in. You can assess whether your decking needs sanding back, re-staining and retreating with a protective coating. Therefore, you can greatly increase the life of your decking if you catch and treat any signs of rot early. If you have decorative woodchips in pots or on borders, you may want to check that they are not showing signs of rot too and replace them if necessary.

Sheds and outbuildings

Now you are able to spend more time outside you may be using outbuildings or sheds you have more often. You can give them the once over now, checking that they have sprung no leaks and that locks and doors are still working, nothing has rusted up or seized over winter. You may want to run a hose over them and sponge down the exterior with warm soapy water to prevent mould and mildew building up.

Outdoor lighting

As you prepare to spend more time outside in warmer weather, it is a good time to check the outdoor lighting. Run your eye over the seals and cables, if it is wired in, or check and replace batteries if necessary.

Garden Furniture

It’s a good idea to check your garden furniture at this time of year, particularly if it has had to stay outside – either exposed or under cover. The damp and cold may have done some damage. Checking furniture now might prevent any avoidable accidents when you first sit out.

Hot tub or spa

If you have a hot tub or spa, this might be a good time for you to run its cleaning cycle. It is certainly a good idea to clean up around it to ensure surfaces have not become damaged or slippery during the winter. 

We hope that this initial spring maintenance checklist has helped you to get started on some maintenance tasks.

This is a marketing article from My Holiday Home Insurance, a specialist provider of insurance for holiday lodges, holiday homes, leisure homes,  holiday chalets and static caravans. Our team of experienced advisers are always happy to help, so for more information call our Northampton office on freephone 0800 988 0890.

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