The summer checklist: keeping the house cool, dry and standing

Winter breaks things; summer wears them out. The air conditioner runs more hours than any other machine in the house, the sun cooks the south and west walls, the humidity finds every cool surface, and in most of the country the worst weather of the year arrives between June and October. The summer list is short, and most of it is about the air conditioner and water.

The air conditioner

• Change the filter now, and every month through the season. A loaded filter in July is the most common cause of a frozen coil.
• Clear two feet around the outdoor unit and hose the coil down with the power off. Cottonwood, grass clippings and dryer lint pack it solid by midsummer.
• Pour a cup of vinegar down the condensate drain line each month. When that line clogs, the water goes through the ceiling below the air handler.
• If it has not had a Pro's tune-up this year, book one now; see the tune-up piece in this section. Once the first heat wave hits, the wait is a week.
• Do not set the thermostat lower than you want the house. An air conditioner cools at one speed; 65 does not get you to 75 any faster, it just runs until it freezes.

Water and humidity

• Run a dehumidifier in the basement and aim for 50 percent or less. Musty smell, condensation on the cold-water pipes and rust on the tools are all the same message.
• Make sure the bath fans and the range hood vent outside and get used. A hot shower puts a pint of water into the air.
• Check the sump pump with a bucket of water before the thunderstorm season.
• Look under the sinks and around the water heater; see the leak piece in this section.

Outside

• Watch the sprinklers. Heads that spray the siding, the windows or the foundation rot wood and wet basements; see the irrigation piece in this section.
• Look at the paint on the south and west walls. That is where it fails first, and a touch-up in June beats a full repaint in three years.
• Clean and seal the deck if water no longer beads on it; see the deck piece.
• Trim branches back from the roof and the power line. Summer storms bring them down.
• Keep mulch and soil six inches below the siding. Termites and carpenter ants come in where wood meets wet ground.

The storms

If you live where hurricanes, derechos or hail happen, June is when the preparation starts, not the week the forecast turns. The hurricane season piece in this section is the full plan; the short version is photographs of the house, a copy of the policy, a look at the roof, and a generator that has been tested.

The attic

If the upstairs is ten degrees hotter than downstairs, the attic is the reason, and the fix is not a bigger air conditioner. See the attic heat piece.

Summer's list is smaller than the fall's. The point of it is that an air conditioner that quits on the hottest day of the year is almost always one that was asking for attention in June.