House projects come in two distinct flavors: The panicky, oh-crap kind that force themselves upon you at the least convenient (and usually random) moments, and the pre-planned, ambitious projects that will improve your home—or at least help you avoid future problems.
There’s not much you can do about the first kind, which will slam into your life with hurricane force when you least expect it. But when it comes to the second kind, choosing when to work on that project is crucial to both its success and the misery level it inspires in your home during the work. Sure, scheduling your projects in February might get you the best prices and the most call backs from contractors, but if you’ve ever had your windows replaced in the middle of winter, for example, you now know that there are much better times of year for projects that leave your house open to the elements.
With summer fast arriving, then, it’s time to consider which house projects are actually best to launch during this season—and which ones you should avoid at all costs.
Best: outdoor living projects
On the one hand, you might want to have your deck, patio, or backyard area all set and ready to go the moment the temperatures start to rise so you can maximize your enjoyment of your outdoor spaces during summer. But figuring out outdoor furniture layouts, grill and outdoor kitchen placement, and the installation of other outdoorsy stuff in the off-season is all theory: You don’t know how you’ll actually wind up using it until you do.
That’s why early summer is the ideal time to figure out the best way to use your space, because you’ll literally be using it. You’ll know if expanding your deck is going to pay dividends, if you’d be better off with a fire pit than an above-ground pool, or if a bar cart is a better investment than an outdoor kitchen you’ll never use.
Worst: painting
Summer feels like the right time to paint. You have more daylight to work with, and probably more flexible free time to dedicate to a project with terrific return on investment.
But summer also means higher temperatures and humidity, which can undermine your paint job in many ways. Your paint may take longer to dry, or dry inconsistently, and if you paint on hot surfaces or with paint that’s been sitting in the sun for a long time, you might find your paint peeling and cracking when the colder weather arrives. Painting is best left to spring or fall when temps are milder and the air tends to be drier.
Best: heating maintenance
Keeping your furnace or boiler in good shape is essential to having a safe and comfortable home, so regular inspections and maintenance are a great idea. There are two reasons why you should do this in the summer, when your heating system is probably the last thing on your mind:
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Scheduling. Your heating is the last thing on your mind—it’s the last thing on everyone’s mind. Your local heating contractors will be delighted to hear from you, and it will be easy to schedule that appointment.
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Convenience. If problems are found and your heat has to be taken offline for a few days, well, you’re not using your heat anyway.
The opposites of these reasons are just as compelling—if you wait until the cold weather starts, you’ll find your contractor is pretty busy. And if you need major repairs or a furnace replacement, you’ll be in for some extremely uncomfortable nights.
Worst: new flooring
Having new floors installed in the summer might seem like a good idea, but it’s probably the worst time of year to do this project because of the heat and humidity. You might get away with it in the early days, but if it’s consistently hot and humid outside, you’ll do best to wait until the fall.
Heat and humidity can cause several problems for new floors, including warping of planks and longer-than-ideal curing times for adhesives and sealants. Plus, if you need to ventilate the house after having your new floors stained and sealed, you’ll be sitting in a hot house with all the windows open, instead of enjoying a beautiful fall or spring breeze.
Best: kitchen renovation
Kitchen renovations are really disruptive to your life. You have no idea how much you’ll miss having a usable kitchen until you’re three weeks into living with a plastic-wrapped, dust-coated hole in the middle of your house while waiting for electric and plumbing inspections.
That’s why summer is the best time for a kitchen reno. If you’re replacing the flooring you have to take the heat and humidity issues into account, true (see above), but the lack of a kitchen stings less when you’re able to cook outside all the time, augmented by the occasional (or daily) delivery order. And if you can work some scheduling wizardry and be on vacation during the bulk of the reno work, you might experience the magic of leaving home with one kitchen and returning with another.
Worst: AC maintenance
If you wait until the hot weather to have your air conditioning system checked out, you’re going to experience a bit of trouble just getting a technician to show up—they’re likely swamped with appointment requests and emergency calls from desperate, sweltering folks who woke up without functioning AC that day.
Plus, that delay in maintenance makes it just that much more likely that your own AC will fail you just as the temperature starts flirting with triple digits. Spring is the ideal time for AC maintenance—in fact, the first day that temperatures get above 60 degrees, you should run your AC to make sure it’ll actually work when you really need it.
Best and worst: roof work
You don’t always have control over roof projects—when your roof springs a leak or suffers obvious storm damage, you’re going to have to get it repaired no matter the season. But for non-emergency roof work, whether replacing the roof proactively or doing regular DIY maintenance like adding a roof coating, summer is both the best and worst time to do it.
On the one hand, doing any sort of DIY work on your roof during the summer will be like stepping onto a hot grill. You’ll be fully exposed to the heat and sun and be baked from below by the sun-heated surface—which can get as hot as 150 degrees. That means doing optional roof work in the summer is going to be a miserable experience.
On the other hand, if you’re having your roof replaced, summer is the best time to do it: Asphalt shingles and roofing adhesives cure are heat-activated, and will cure and seal faster in the warmer weather. Plus, you’re probably hiring someone to do that, so you’re not going to be up there like an egg on a griddle.
