Like your car, the commercial property requires periodic maintenance. For sure, you can hire someone to do that maintenance. Still, if a new employee is not something you can afford, you need to know about fall maintenance and do it yourself or call in a professional building maintenance service provider.
The fall is an excellent time to focus on building maintenance tasks because you prepare your property for winter, improve the safety and performance and avoid expensive repairs from essential maintenance you forgot to do.
This fall, it’s important to focus on the following maintenance tasks to improve your commercial property and help you avoid future repairs.
In doing these simple fall repairs, you can improve the lifespan of your facility and help your wallet remain budget-friendly.
Rake the Leaves and Junk from Around the Building
Fall is great. The weather is cooler, and the trees are beautiful, but all that color comes at a cost. You have to rake all the dead leaves from around the building. Don’t forget to clean the gutters, the downspouts, the roof, and the flashing. When leaves and junk accumulates in these areas, water (melted snow) can’t drain away from the building, and if it gets trapped, it can cause leaks, roof damage, or asphalt damage.
Inspect Outdoor Faucets and Irrigation Systems
Before the cold weather approaches, you want to make sure you drain the faucets and disconnect hoses from outside. Otherwise, you risk having them freeze, and replacing pipes and faucets can be expensive. The fall is the perfect time to service outdoor water fixtures. If you aren’t sure about how to perform maintenance in this area, be sure to call in a professional service such as Nashville Building Services to inspect for you. Even if you have to pay for the service, the cost is offset by avoiding future pipe or plumbing damage.
Clean the HVAC System
In the winter, you are more likely to pay higher electricity bills. So do a little maintenance for the AC/furnace system to keep it running efficiently, so your electricity bill doesn’t skyrocket in the winter. It’s time to schedule an annual checkup with a reliable HVAC specialist, and you should do it before you flip the switch to your heater. The service technician will do routine maintenance, including changing air filters, inspecting the system, and cleaning out the ducts.
Keep the Building Insulated
It is important that you keep your building’s interior warm and comfortable by preventing cold air from entering through small openings. Take some time to inspect your windows to see if there are any cold drafts. Your heating system will need to work harder when the warm air in your building is able to escape through small openings. In addition to your windows, make sure that your doors are properly sealed as well.
Avoid Those Electrical Problems
Don’t expect the renters to tell you about, much less fix any exposed wires on electrical appliances, equipment, or outlets. Do some fall maintenance inspection of these areas to ensure that all electrical systems are working correctly. Check the breakers as well. You don’t want a fuse to blow, so you might as well change them now. Also, this is the perfect time to check smoke detectors while you are checking all the other electrical system details. Make sure those smoke detectors have new batteries and are still functioning as well as the day you installed them.
Clean Up Inside and Out
Often as commercial property owners, we forget about interior public areas. Colder temperatures of winter mean that flu and other illnesses pester everyone. Avoid getting sick or having customers get sick by doing a deep cleaning of the building. Disinfecting common areas and cleaning desks, doorknobs, and windows at this time of year is a great idea. After all, you are already doing other maintenance tasks, so you might as well tackle this area too.
By following the tips above, you will be able to prepare your building for the fall season. Cold weather can seriously compromise your building, so a little bit of preparation goes a long way. Getting ready for incoming cold weather will also help you save money while helping your building thrive in the process.
