8 Quick Maintenance Ideas for the Weekend

8 Quick Maintenance Ideas for the Weekend


If your weekend suddenly opens up – maybe friends canceled a get-together or the weather isn’t going to cooperate – then you should have a few ideas on what you can do around the house. Maintenance work, after all, doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, it can be easy!

Here are just a few ideas to keep your home clean, uncluttered and looking better and better!

1) SORT THE GARAGE OR SHED

TERRO Ant Killer Garages and sheds are often used to hide messes and drop half-finished projects for completion later. That, of course, leads to clutter and messes that make it impossible to use your space properly. Use your weekend to dig in there and finish the projects you can and reorganize the space. While you do, keep an eye out for any pests that may have decided to make your home theirs. If you spot silverfish or other creatures that love damp, dark places, hit their nests and other areas where they hide with TERRO® Ant Killer. This spray remains effective for weeks and keeps bugs from coming back.

2) INSTALL GUTTER GUARDS

If you live on a street with mature trees, then you get plenty of leaves each fall. It’s also likely that your gutters fill up with leaves and other debris from nearby trees, and cleaning them is a stinky, miserable task. By adding gutter guards, you’ll rid yourself of that dirty chore. Most importantly, you should remember that you don’t have to add them to all your gutters, only those that have trees nearby. paint tray

3) PAINT A ROOM

Taking a weekend to paint a room may not seem like a quick maintenance project, but consider this: When you paint a room, you are essentially giving it a complete inspection, which can help you identify future projects that need to be done. Further, a fresh coat of paint will effectively seal off the room from invading insects. You’ll be filling cracks where bugs hide, tightening seals that insects slide through and cleaning up debris that bugs feed on. A paint job is an excellent bug-proofing exercise!

4) HELP WITH STRIPPED OUT SCREWS

Whether it’s a wobbly leg on a piece of furniture or some work you’re doing as part of a larger project, using screws can be frustrating for a person who isn’t entirely handy. In fact, a struggle with a problem screw can stop a project dead in its tracks. To help screws drive in easier, apply a bit of wax on the thread of the screw. This lubrication makes it easier to drive your screws and can keep the heads from stripping. Another problem may be that after years of use, a screw hole is now too big for the original screw. To fix that, grab several toothpicks, apply wood glue to the tips and jam them into the hole until they fit tight. Wait a few hours for the wood to dry and try driving the screw again – it should be tight now.

5) CLEAN YOUR RANGE HOOD

Dresser After a month or so of regular use, the vent hood above your stove can get quite grimy. Even worse, all that grease and grime can be a major attractant for insects and other pests. Clean the range hood filter by dipping it in a water-based degreaser (available at an auto parts store) for a few minutes. After that, just rinse it clean. With gloves on, you can use the same degreaser to wipe down the entire stove hood. Follow that with a sanitary scrub down and it will look like new.

6) ORGANIZE CORDS

The cords behind your TV and computer station probably look like an octopus exploded, so why not clean that area up! Doing so will help to keep dust bunnies under control, which denies certain insects of food (skin cells and hair follicles) and shelter. Your first order of business is to untangle and organize all the cords. Next, clean up any accumulated dust and debris. Then, mount power strips on the wall rather than leaving them on the floor. Finally, bind all the cords together with a few twist ties. As a bonus, label each of the cords near the plugs for future clean-up efforts.

7) GET MORE STORAGE SPACE

Looking to add a little more storage space to your home? Instead of throwing away an old, beat-up dresser, remove the drawers, add casters to the bottom of each drawer and slide the new storage bin under your bed. You can even cut a piece of thin plywood to create a lid for your new storage space that will be perfect for shoes, blankets, and books. By placing the storage bins on casters, you’ll also make it harder for nasty insects such as bed bugs to hide inside them.

8) STOP ANTS BEFORE THEY GET IN

Ant Spike

Ants are persistent pests that explore constantly as they look for food. TERRO® Outdoor Liquid Bait Stakes can help you take control of an ant problem before they get inside your house. Just add these stakes in discrete locations around the outside of your home and let the ants find them. Inside each is a special bait that takes down the ants you see and the ants you don't see. All you need to do is place them into the ground – talk about a quick weekend chore!

HOW ARE YOU SPENDING YOUR WEEKEND?

Do you have any ideas for quick-and-easy home repairs? Let us know in the comments below or when you visit TERRO® on Facebook.

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