What the house needs in April, south of the equator
31 jobs, in five groups.
April is the fullest month of the year for the house here, and it is worth writing the list down. It is a hinge month, so the twice yearly jobs come round: turn the mattress, swap the wardrobe over, oil the gate hinges and the locks, lift the drain covers and look, check the water heater valve and its tray. It is also the month the winter preparation happens in earnest. Bleed the radiators, run the heating for an hour while an engineer can still come out, put the heavy curtains up, change the smoke alarm batteries, and clear the gutters of what the autumn has put in them. Net the pond before the leaves go in, take the last cut and store the mower, and get the grit in if you are somewhere that needs it. In the Western Cape the first winter rain usually arrives in April or May, which makes the gutters an April job there; in the summer rainfall regions the storms are ending and the same job can wait for September. South Africa keeps the same time all year; in the Australian states that use daylight saving, the clocks go back on the first Sunday of April.
Safety
- Test every smoke alarm
- Every month. See January for how.
- Change the smoke alarm batteries
- Once a year, whether or not they have started chirping. Tie it to a date you will not forget: in Australia the first Sunday in April, when daylight saving ends, and in South Africa, which never changes its clocks, Freedom Day on 27 April works as well as anything.
- Test the carbon monoxide alarm
- In March or April, before the heaters and the gas fire go on for winter, and again in September as the cold season ends. Look at the back as well, because the sensor has a limited life and its replacement date is printed on the case.
- Have the chimney swept before the first fire
- Book it in March or April, ahead of the first cold evenings in May rather than after them. The sweep can look at the cowl and the flashing round the stack on the same visit.
- Check the heater flexes and plugs
- In March or April, before the heaters come out for winter. Run your fingers along each flex for cracks, look at the plug pins for scorch marks, and never lay a flex under a rug where its heat cannot get away.
- Check the gate motor battery and the manual release
- Twice a year, and make sure everyone in the house knows how to release the gate by hand when the power is off.
Water and heating
- Bleed the radiators
- Where a house has radiators, bleed them in April or May, before the heating goes on for winter. A radiator that is cold at the top and warm at the bottom has air in it, and the first cold week is the worst time to find that out.
- Book the boiler or heat pump service
- Book the boiler or heat pump service in March or April, while the weather is still mild and engineers have time. The queue for a call-out grows on the first cold morning, which is exactly the week you want the heating working.
- Run the heating for an hour before you need it
- Run it for an hour on a mild April day. A fault found now can be put right before May brings the first cold nights, rather than in the middle of them.
- Check the water heater valve and its drip tray
- The pressure relief valve should be dry and the tray should be empty. A wet tray is the first sign of something worth calling about.
- Descale the kettle and the shower head
- Four times a year. See January for how.
- Clear the gutters and the downpipes
- The timing depends on when your rain comes. In the Western Cape, clear them in April before the winter rains; in the summer rainfall regions, clear them in September or October before the thunderstorms. A blocked gutter sends water down the wall instead of into the drain.
Inside
- Turn or rotate the mattress
- Twice a year, at the same time as the wardrobe change. Most modern mattresses rotate rather than flip, which the label will say.
- Put the heavy curtains up
- Put the lined curtains up in April, before the cold nights of May. Over a single glazed window a lined curtain keeps in more heat than you would expect, and it costs nothing once you have it.
- Look at the loft insulation before the cold
- In March or April, before the cold arrives, look at the insulation in the roof space. It should lie evenly rather than flattened, and reach the edges without blocking the ventilation.
- Feel round the doors and windows for draughts
- Feel round the doors and windows on a windy day in April or May, using the back of your hand. Draught strip is cheap, and it is the first thing to fit before the winter heating bills arrive.
- Replace the bulbs that have gone
- Replace the dead bulbs in March or April, as the evenings shorten, and try the outside ones at the same time.
- Swap the wardrobe over
- Twice a year. Anything you did not wear at all last season is not going to be worn next season either.
Outside
- Look the roof over from the ground
- Twice a year, from the ground and with binoculars: in April before the winter, and in September before the summer storms and the Highveld hail. Look for slipped or cracked tiles, a lifted ridge and anything nesting in the flashing.
- Oil the gate hinges and the locks
- A drop of oil twice a year keeps a gate closing properly. A lock that has gone stiff outdoors is usually water rather than wear.
- Clear the moss off the paths
- Twice a year: in April, before the wet winter in the Western Cape, and in September, before the summer rains elsewhere. A path grown over with moss or algae is slippery when it is wet.
- Check the shed roof and door
- In March or April, before the Western Cape winter rain or the dry cold elsewhere. Roofing felt usually gives way at its edges first, and a door that swells in the wet is easier to plane now.
- Check the outside lights work
- Before the evenings draw in from March. Clean the lens while you are there, because grime often takes more light from an outside lamp than an ageing bulb does.
- Check the tyres, the screenwash and the antifreeze
- In April or May, before the cold mornings: tyre tread and pressures, the screenwash, and the coolant, which does the antifreeze work wherever winter nights drop below freezing.
- Clean and put the garden furniture away
- Clean it, dry it and get it under cover in April or May. Cushions packed away damp in May are mouldy by September.
- Lift the drain covers and look
- Twice a year. Standing water in a gulley means a blockage somewhere, and it is a great deal cheaper than a flood.
The garden edge
- Last cut, then clean and store the mower
- After the last cut of autumn, in April or May: run the fuel out or add a stabiliser, clean under the deck and store it dry. Stale fuel is a common reason a mower refuses to start in spring.
- Net the pond before the leaves fall
- Net it in April, before the deciduous trees drop their leaves. Leaves that rot in the water through the winter take its oxygen, and a few weeks of netting saves a clean out in spring.
- Wash the greenhouse glass down
- Wash the glass in March or April, before the low winter sun. Clean glass lets in the light that keeps plants compact through the short days.
- Get the grit or the salt in
- Only needed on high ground and in the cold interior, where frost lies on the paths on winter mornings; most coastal houses can skip it. Where it is needed, buy it in April or May, before the first icy morning empties the shops.
- Rake the leaves off the lawn and the paths
- Rake them off in April and May, as the deciduous trees drop. Grass left under a layer of leaves yellows within a couple of weeks, and the leaves make good leaf mould in a bag.
Tick them off as you go
This page is the plain list for April. The same list is tickable on the house through the year, where the ticks are kept on your own device and cleared at the start of each year. Nothing is sent anywhere.
The garden half of the month is on the almanac page for April, which covers what to sow, what to plant out and what is ready to pick.