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The Ottawa home maintenance calendar.
Twelve months of what to actually do to a house in this climate, and why that month. Written for Ottawa specifically — the freeze-thaw cycle, the clay, the melt season and the humidity swing all land on particular months here.
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January
Deep winterFebruary
Peak freeze-thawMarch
Melt seasonApril
Spring resetMay
Exterior workJune
Water and humidityJuly
Peak humidityAugust
Clay shrinkage watchSeptember
Get ahead of winterOctober
WinterisationNovember
Last chance outsideDecember
Winter watchYour ticks save in this browser only — nothing is sent to us and nothing is stored on our servers.
The three that matter most
If you do nothing else on this calendar, do these:
- Keep water away from the foundation. Clean gutters, downspouts discharging 1.8 m out, and soil sloping away. This single habit prevents more expensive damage than everything else combined, and costs almost nothing.
- Keep the attic cold and dry. Air sealing, adequate insulation coverage, and exhaust fans that terminate outdoors. This is what prevents ice dams, and ice dams are what wet your walls.
- Test your alarms and your sump. Both are devices you only find out have failed at the exact moment you needed them.
Everything else on this page is worth doing. Those three are worth doing first.
Book an inspection
Want a professional set of eyes on it once a year?
An annual maintenance inspection is the same rigorous walk-through we do for buyers, run on the home you already own — with a prioritised task list and a five-year capital plan. From $329.