What the house needs in November, south of the equator
13 jobs, in five groups.
November is early summer and the last comfortable month for the outside work before the real heat. Clean the decking and oil it again, giving it two or three days to dry between the two, and clean the barbecue and look properly at the gas hose and the regulator. Go up into the roof space and look for a wasp nest while it is small and quiet. Finish the outside paintwork in settled weather. Indoors, the summer preparation carries on: insect screens, fans, fridge seals, air conditioner filters. Check the tank lid and the overflow in the roof while you are up there. Keep the bins washed out now that the weather makes it matter, and run the irrigation once more before the dry weeks.
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.
- Look in the roof space for a wasp nest
- Early in the summer, while a nest is still small and quiet. A nest found in June is a small job and one found in September is not.
Water and heating
- Wash the air conditioner filters
- Before the hot months, and again halfway through if it runs daily. A blocked filter costs more in electricity than the machine costs to clean.
- Check the tank lid and the overflow
- Lid on properly, overflow clear, nothing growing in it. Five minutes in the roof once a year.
Inside
- Wash and put away the winter bedding
- Wash it before it goes away rather than when it comes out, and store it somewhere dry with the door left ajar.
- Fit the insect screens and check the mesh
- Before the windows start living open. A hole the size of a fingernail is a mosquito door for the whole season.
- Check the fridge and freezer door seals
- Shut a sheet of paper in the door. If it pulls out easily the seal has gone, and the machine will fight the hot months for you.
- Clean and check the ceiling fans
- Before the hot months. Dust on the blades unbalances them, and a wobbling fan is a loose fixing rather than a design feature.
Outside
- Touch up the outside paintwork
- In dry settled weather with a few dry days behind you and a few ahead. Bare wood left over a winter costs far more than a tin of paint.
- Wash the bins out
- In the warm months, when it matters and when they dry in an hour. A rinse and a splash of disinfectant is enough.
- Clean the barbecue and check the gas hose
- Before the first one of the year. Perished hose and a corroded regulator are what turn a barbecue into a news item.
- Clean the decking and oil it again
- Wash it, let it dry for two or three days, then oil it. Decking left bare goes grey and then splinters, and neither can be undone.
The garden edge
- Check the irrigation timer and the sprinklers
- Run every zone before the dry months and watch where the water actually lands. Half of most systems waters a fence.
Tick them off as you go
This page is the plain list for November. 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 forNovember, which covers what to sow, what to plant out and what is ready to pick.