Before you break out your swimsuits and head to the beach, you’re gonna want to get on that summer home maintenance checklist. Summer is an ideal time to tackle those little repairs and maintenance issues you've been putting off.

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These maintenance tasks will prepare your home for summer when the sun is bright and the temperatures are high.

What Indoor Home Maintenance Tasks Do You Need to Do for Summer?

Indoor maintenance tasks often focus on keeping your house cool by preparing your cooling system for summer temperatures. This includes things like changing your HVAC filter and making your windows and doors more efficient. Thorough cleaning, pest prevention and safety measures are also important.

Some things to include in your indoor summer home maintenance checklist include:

• Changing HVAC filters
• Testing the AC
• Washing the insides of windows
• Adding UV-protective or thermal window treatments to reduce heat transfer
• Reversing the direction of your ceiling fans
• Deep cleaning your garbage disposal, dishwasher, washing machine, dryer and other appliances
• Checking appliance hoses for leaks
• Testing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and changing batteries
• Vacuuming your vents
• Deep cleaning all surfaces

What Outdoor Home Maintenance Tasks Do You Need to Do for Summer?

Exterior maintenance usually takes a little more work in the summer. It's a good time to freshen up your home's exterior with tasks like staining your deck. This is also your chance to fix minor issues and prepare things you'll use during the summer, like your grill and patio furniture.

Some exterior maintenance tasks to do at the beginning of summer include:

• Cleaning your gutters
• Inspecting your roof for missing or damaged shingles
• Power-washing siding, sidewalks, decks and other surfaces
• Painting or staining worn surfaces
• Cleaning your exterior air conditioning unit
• Trimming bushes and trees
• Cleaning and setting up outdoor furniture
• Inspecting fences for damage
• Looking for cracks, rotting and other damage on siding
• Caulking around windows and filling in other cracks and gaps
• Cleaning your exterior dryer vent
• Cleaning and prepping your grill
• Inspecting for pests

Air Conditioning Maintenance

Preparing your air conditioner for the cooling season is one of the biggest parts of your summer home maintenance checklist.

Change the Filter

Your HVAC filter needs to be changed or cleaned when it gets dirty. The timing can vary from once a month to once a year, depending on the filter type and your home's environment. A dusty home with pets and lots of people likely needs more frequent filter changes. Inspect your filter during your summer maintenance to see if it's ready for a change.

Clean the Exterior

Cleaning the coils on your exterior unit helps it run efficiently. Remove the cover if you have one and shut off the power to the unit. Hose down the exterior unit. Let it dry fully.

Test Your Air Conditioner

Turn the air conditioner on using your thermostat, and adjust the thermostat setting a temperature lower than the current indoor temp. Give the unit 5 to 10 minutes to start as some units have a delay before they start running.

Schedule a Tune-up

If you haven't had your HVAC system professionally inspected this year, schedule a tune-up now. Yearly inspections include tightening and lubricating parts, cleaning your system and looking for minor issues that can be repaired before more serious damage happens.

Adjust Humidifier

If you have a whole-house humidifier, you might need to adjust the settings or turn it off in the summer. Humidifiers are most common in the winter when the air is drier, but you might have reason to use them in the summer as well. Adjusting it to keep your home at around 40% relative humidity is ideal.

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Landscaping Maintenance

Another major summer checklist item is landscaping. The winter and spring months can be rough on your plants and flowers. As summer approaches, you might need to do some repairs and get the landscaping under control.

Clean Up

Remove any remaining fall leaves, sticks, branches and other outdoor debris from your yard and landscaping.

Trimming and Pruning

Cut back overgrown bushes or trees, and prune your landscaping as required based on the species. Some pruning should take place in spring or early summer, while other pruning should wait until fall.

Maintain Hardscaping

Check the hardscape features in your landscaping, such as planting bed borders, patios, planters and retaining walls. They might need to be cleaned or repaired.

Plant

Add any new plants you want to your landscaping. Review sunlight requirements, soil preferences and other growing conditions to choose plants that work well in specific parts of your landscaping.

Prepare Equipment

Get out your lawnmower, weed trimmer and other landscape maintenance tools to prep them for the season. Fill them with fuel if necessary. Sharpen blades and replace any parts that are old or dull.

Add Mulch

If you have mulched areas, you might need to add new mulch. Organic mulch, such as bark, deteriorates and may need to be renewed.

Prep Irrigation

Install your garden hose and test out the connections. If you have inground irrigation, prep and test the system.

Customize Your Summer Home Maintenance Checklist

When you're ready to start on home maintenance for the season, consider which of the above tasks applies to your situation. If you live in a condo, for instance, you needn't worry about most lawn and exterior maintenance. If you don't have air conditioning, you can cross those maintenance tasks off your list. Create a custom summer home maintenance checklist based on your living situation, and start tackling the items one at a time.