Homeowners have so much to remember throughout each month, let alone throughout the year. Yearly maintenance and safety procedures are often scheduled several months, or even a year, in advance. Today I want to discuss some of the yearly maintenance and safety procedures that you need to schedule for a specific date every year so you don’t forget to do them.

  1. Fire Drill and Emergency Escape Plans: Many homeowners schedule a fire drill every six months to keep members of their household up to date on how to escape in case of an emergency. Make sure everyone within your home understands the emergency escape route and is not afraid to jump out of a window if necessary. The more comfortable your family is with the emergency escape plans, the better prepared they will be in the case of an emergency. Make sure they’re familiar with the precise location to meet after escaping the home.
  2. Smoke Alarm: Replace your smoke alarm batteries once per year. Check them once per month by pressing the test button to make sure it would sound the alarm if anything happened.
  3. Carbon Monoxide Detector: Replace your carbon monoxide detector batteries once per year. Again, test it once per month by pressing the button to check battery life.
  4. Home Alarm System Batteries and Inspection: Your home alarm is likely attached to your home’s electrical system with a battery backup. Change the batteries once a year to make sure they are always in working order.
  5. Remote Control Batteries: You may think this is silly but if you rely heavily on remote controls and get tired of picking one up only to find that it doesn’t work due to dead batteries, replace their batteries at the same time you replace the batteries in your smoke alarm to reduce the chances of disappointment.
  6. Chimney Cleaning and Inspection: Regardless of how often you use your fireplace, you need a yearly inspection. You may not need a yearly cleaning if you use your fireplace minimally, but an inspection is an absolute must.
  7. Fireplace Inspection: Your wood burning fireplace, gas fireplace, or wood burning stove needs to be inspected once a year, preferably before the first fire of the new fall season.

Yearly Maintenance and Inspections

Your home is your largest investment and must be protected. These seven important safety items must be scheduled and the schedule maintained each year in order to help prevent accidents. Make sure smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors are installed in the correct spots so they are the most effective at warning you in case of fire or carbon monoxide.

One quick tip I’d like to pass on to you is – schedule all of these simple maintenance steps for the same date each year. Changing batteries, having me visit to clean and inspect the chimney and fireplace, and reviewing the emergency escape plans can all be done in the same day.