Now is the Time to Get the Winter Guck out of your Gutters and AC Condenser

The month of March—when temps are beginning to rise but before those April showers—is the ideal time to get down and dirty with those maintenance projects, says J.B. Sassano, president of Mr. Handyman, a commercial and residential repair, maintenance, and improvement franchise. March “home maintenance projects can extend the longevity and improve the quality of your home, inside and out,” he says.

Remove leaves, pine needles, and other debris that have accumulated over the winter so your gutter system is ready to handle spring showers. Overflowing gutters and blocked downspouts can damage siding and foundations. If you’d like to stop worrying about cleaning out your gutters every few months, you might want to install gutter guards—screens, foam inserts, surface tension covers—which help to keep debris out of gutters. In general, screen types work best, according to the folks at Consumer Reports.

If you want to keep this a strictly DIY affair, make sure you get geared up with goggles and gloves, and follow safety protocols when it comes to climbing up that ladder and possibly getting onto your roof.  Or you could hire a professional gutter cleaner, who generally charges $100 to $250 to clean 200 linear feet of gutter on a two-story, 2,500-square-foot house. Professional installation of gutter guards runs $7.50 to $10 per linear foot.

Now that the temps are rising, you’ll want to check for and clean any dust and debris that have accumulated on the AC condenser (the big metal box outside your house) over the winter so that the AC works efficiently when you need it.  It’s fairly simple to do: hook up a garden hose and spray the outside of the condenser. The water will melt away the gunk. Don’t use a brush, and be careful if pressure washing—you could damage or bend the fins.  If you decide not to DIY, having a pro service your AC system costs $100 to $250 and includes cleaning the condenser and lubricating the fan motor.

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