Mike Holmes: Homeowners greet the

season of chores
Published on: July 6, 2020 | Last Updated: July 6, 2020 8:44 AM EDT

Summer weather is the best time to reseal your driveway. P H O T O A L E X S C H U L D T Z , T H E

Source: https://www.countyweeklynews.ca/life/homes/mike-holmes-homeowners-greet-the-season-of-chores/wcm/1cf77a2f-c370-
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I love summertime for a few reasons. One, as a contractor, it tends to be my
busy season, and I love working at the job site. It stays light longer, so that
means more time spent on my new deck after work every day. And though I
barbecue even in the dead of winter, nothing’s better than throwing a burger
or steak on the grill during the summer.

Of course, the summer season brings summertime chores — and as much as

we all want to kick back and enjoy the warm weather, we still have a few jobs
to take care of around the house.

In particular, summer is the best time to pay attention to the health of your
driveway.

Inspect your driveway

Your driveway has an important job at home that go beyond giving you a
place to park your car. When properly graded, they help with water
management. If the driveway is flat, or slants toward your home, you will see
water gathering near your home, increasing your chances of a leak. When
slated away from your home, it keeps water moving away.

As long as your driveway isn’t taking a beating from really heavy trucks, it
won’t require much maintenance. Depending on use and your climate,
typically, it should only need resealing every three years or so (yearly for
concrete). Most homeowners will have asphalt driveways (though stamped
concrete and interlocking stone are other potential materials), so you’ll want
to use a latex sealant for maximum effectiveness.

Summertime is the best time of year to reseal your driveway. Why? For one
thing, the heat will make the sealant dry quicker. Heat also makes material
expand, and when the driveway is at full expansion, the sealant can reach all
the pores in the driveway more easily — making it a more effective process.

If your driveway has a few small cracks, you should fill them quickly on your
own. You should be able to get an asphalt crack repair kit at your local
hardware store. Your goal here is to prevent water from sneaking into those
cracks. If you don’t, when that water begins to freeze and thaw, it will start to
heave the asphalt out of place, damaging the integrity of your driveway.
When it gets to that point, you’ll be looking at a full replacement — so
address cracks quickly while they’re small.

What causes cracks? Well, oil for one, so if your car is leaking fluids, get it
fixed quickly. Tree roots are powerful, and can grow underneath the
driveway, eventually pushing upwards through it. Don’t have any major trees
or shrubs close to the driveway if you can help it. Finally, heavy automobiles
can cause a lot of wear and tear over time. Your car, truck, or van are
probably OK, but if you’ve got lots of big trucks using your driveway daily, you
might want to consider using a material stronger than asphalt.

Keep cool indoors

When it gets really unbearable outside, most of us flee indoors with the air
conditioning. Turning up the air conditioner keeps us cool, sure, but too
much, and you start to see your energy bills getting out of control. So the
name of the game is finding ways to keep us cool, without breaking the bank.

First, make sure your HVAC is running efficiently. During the summer
months, especially, you’ll want to be checking your filter at least every month,
and changing it as necessary. This keeps your system for going into overdrive
just to keep you at a relatively cool temperature.

Make good use of your ceiling fans. Fans don’t actually cool the air, but the
air movement helps keep our personal temperatures in check. Each summer,
make sure you’ve switched the fan orientation to run counterclockwise. This
pushes the air down toward you, helping cool your down. Remember, a
ceiling fan is useless if you’re not in the room to feel the effects. So to save
energy, when you leave the room, switch it off.

To find out more aboutMike Holmes, visit makeitright.ca