Summer home maintenance checklist

Bare timber soaks up rain and rots, and most coatings need a dry, settled spell to cure properly.

Rain gets into an open joint every time it falls; the repair is far smaller now than after another winter.

Roof work is safest in dry, calm weather and belongs to an insured roofer.

A leak found in July is a repair; the same leak found in January is a ceiling.

UK guidance on damp says that where a home is inadequately ventilated, moisture cannot escape and condensation follows — and drying washing indoors is one of the biggest moisture loads a household adds.

HSE requires a landlord's gas safety check every 12 months by a Gas Safe registered engineer; owner-occupiers get the same engineers, and in summer they have space in the diary.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service says a wood-burning chimney should be swept quarterly when in use, bituminous coal or peat twice a year, and smokeless coal at least once a year, by a certified sweep.

London Fire Brigade advises fitting alarms on the ceiling, screwing rather than gluing them, and using a heat alarm in the kitchen so cooking fumes do not set it off.

GOV.UK requires landlords to have the electrics in a rented property checked at least every 5 years by a qualified person; owners with old wiring have the same test done for the same reason.

UK damp guidance counts leaking waste and heating pipes, overflowing baths and defective water tanks among the causes of damp indoors.

Planting held against a wall keeps it wet and hides what the wall is doing.

Raised paving and blocked channels send rainwater straight at the wall instead of the drain.

A nest in an awkward place is a job for a pest controller, not a ladder and a spray can.

Roofers and heating engineers are hardest to get the week the weather turns.