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.
Safety
- Test every smoke alarm
- Press the button on each one until it sounds. It takes two minutes and it is the single most useful thing on this list.
- Change the smoke alarm batteries
- Once a year whether they have chirped or not. Pick a date you will remember, such as the weekend the clocks change.
- Test the carbon monoxide alarm
- Before the heating season and again in the middle of it. A carbon monoxide alarm has a sealed life of about seven years, printed on the back.
- Have the chimney swept before the first fire
- Book it before everyone else does, which means late summer. A sweep will also tell you whether the cowl and the flashing are sound.
- Check the heater flexes and plugs
- Before the heaters come out of the cupboard. Look for cracked flex, scorched pins and anything that has been run under a rug.
- 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
- Cold at the top and warm at the bottom means air. Bleed them before the heating season rather than in the first cold week.
- Book the boiler or heat pump service
- Book it in late summer. Everybody rings on the first cold morning and that is the week you cannot get anyone.
- Run the heating for an hour before you need it
- One hour in the last warm month tells you what is wrong while an engineer can still come out quickly.
- 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
- Quarterly in a hard water area, less often in a soft one. A furred shower head sprays sideways long before it stops working.
- Clear the gutters and the downpipes
- After the leaves come down, and again before the rainy season. A blocked gutter puts water down a wall rather than into a 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
- A lined curtain over a single glazed window is worth a surprising amount, and it costs nothing once you own them.
- Look at the loft insulation before the cold
- Check it is not squashed, that it reaches the eaves without blocking the ventilation, and that nothing has been storing itself in it.
- Feel round the doors and windows for draughts
- Do it on a windy day with the back of your hand. Draught strip is the cheapest heating improvement there is.
- Replace the bulbs that have gone
- Before the dark months rather than during them, and check 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
- Binoculars from the garden, twice a year. Slipped tiles, lifted ridge, a bird nesting in the flashing. Never from the ladder if you can avoid it.
- 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, and always before the wet months. A mossy path is the commonest way people fall over at home.
- Check the shed roof and door
- Before the wet months. Roofing felt fails at the edges first, and a shed that leaks in June has been leaking since March.
- Check the outside lights work
- Before the evenings get dark. Clean the lens while you are there, because most outside lights lose more to dirt than to the bulb.
- Check the tyres, the screenwash and the antifreeze
- Before the cold weather rather than in it. Tread and pressures take five minutes on a forecourt.
- Clean and put the garden furniture away
- Dry, clean and under cover. Cushions left in a damp box in October are mouldy cushions in April.
- 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
- Run the fuel out or add a stabiliser, clean the deck properly and store it dry. Old petrol left in over winter is the commonest reason it will not start.
- Net the pond before the leaves fall
- Leaves rotting in a pond over winter take the oxygen out of it. A net for six weeks saves clearing it out in spring.
- Wash the greenhouse glass down
- Before the low light months. Dirty glass in midwinter is the difference between a plant that holds and a plant that stretches.
- Get the grit or the salt in
- Before you need it, because the shops sell out on the first icy morning. A bucket by the door is enough for most paths.
- Rake the leaves off the lawn and the paths
- Grass under leaves goes yellow within a fortnight. Put them in a bag with a few holes and you have leaf mould in a year.
Tick them off as you go
This page is the plain list for April. The same list is tickable onthe 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 forApril, which covers what to sow, what to plant out and what is ready to pick.