10 Home Maintenance Tasks St. Louis Homeowners Forget Every Year

Missouri throws everything at your house. Ice storms in January. Ninety-five degrees with humidity you can swim through by July. Tornado watches in between. And somehow, the same maintenance items get skipped every single year.

I’ve been fixing homes across St. Charles County, South County, and the Metro East for a long time. After a while, you notice a pattern. The same problems keep showing up — and most of them could’ve been prevented with an afternoon of work in the right season.

Here are the ten tasks I see St. Louis homeowners forget most often, and what happens when they do.

1. Cleaning Out the Gutters — Both Times

Everybody knows about fall gutter cleaning. Leaves come down, gutters fill up, you clean them out. But most people skip the spring cleaning, and that’s the one that matters more around here.

St. Louis winters drop a mix of ice, debris, and shingle grit into your gutters. By March, those troughs are packed with sediment that hardens like concrete once it dries. Clogged gutters push water behind your fascia boards, and the next thing you know, you’ve got rotted soffit and water staining in a bedroom ceiling.

The National Association of Home Builders recommends cleaning gutters at least twice per year. In a market like St. Louis with heavy deciduous tree cover, I’d bump that to three times if you’ve got mature oaks or sweetgums near the house.

When to do it: Late March and mid-November. Add a mid-summer check if you’re near heavy tree lines.

2. Servicing the HVAC Before You Need It

This one costs people more money than almost anything else on this list. Your furnace ran hard from November through March. Your A/C is about to run hard from May through September. And the shoulder season — right now, April — is when you should have both systems checked.

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that heating and cooling account for roughly 43% of a typical home’s energy bill. A system running on a dirty filter with low refrigerant doesn’t just cost you more per month. It wears out faster. A $150 tune-up today prevents a $6,000 compressor replacement in August, when every HVAC company in the metro is booked three weeks out.

Change your filters monthly during peak use. Most people I visit in Wentzville, O’Fallon, and St. Peters are running three-month filters and changing them every six. That’s not maintenance — that’s neglect.

When to do it: Schedule HVAC service in March or April for cooling season, October for heating season.

3. Checking the Sump Pump

If your house has a basement — and most St. Louis-area homes do — you have a sump pump. And if you haven’t tested it since you moved in, you’re gambling.

Here’s the test: pour about five gallons of water into the sump pit. The pump should kick on, move the water out, and shut off. If it doesn’t start, runs continuously, or makes grinding noises, you need service before the spring rains hit.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources tracks rainfall data, and April through June is historically the wettest stretch in the St. Louis metro. That pump is the only thing standing between your finished basement and a very expensive insurance claim. And by the way — standard homeowner’s insurance usually doesn’t cover sump pump failure unless you’ve added a specific rider.

When to do it: Early March, before the spring rains start.

4. Inspecting the Caulk Around Windows and Doors

Caulk doesn’t last forever. In Missouri’s freeze-thaw cycle, exterior caulk takes a beating. It expands in summer heat, contracts in winter cold, and eventually cracks, shrinks, or pulls away entirely.

Failed caulk around windows and doors is one of the most common sources of air infiltration and water intrusion in St. Louis homes. The U.S. Department of Energy notes that sealing air leaks around windows and doors can reduce energy costs by 10 to 20 percent, depending on the home’s age and condition.

Walk the exterior of your house once a year. If the caulk is cracked, missing, or pulling away from the frame, scrape it out and reapply. A tube of quality exterior caulk costs about $8. The water damage from not replacing it costs thousands.

When to do it: Mid-spring, once overnight temperatures stay consistently above 45 degrees.

5. Flushing the Water Heater

I’d bet that fewer than one in ten homeowners in the St. Louis area have ever flushed their water heater. Sediment builds up at the bottom of the tank over time — mineral deposits from our local water supply, which is moderately hard across most of St. Louis County and St. Charles County.

That sediment layer acts as an insulator between the burner and the water, forcing the unit to work harder. According to the American Society of Home Inspectors, annual flushing can extend the life of a water heater by several years. Given that a new tank water heater runs $1,200 to $2,000 installed, flushing is worth the 30 minutes it takes.

How to do it: Attach a garden hose to the drain valve at the bottom of the tank. Run it to a floor drain or outside. Open the valve and let it flow until the water runs clear. If you’re not comfortable doing this yourself, we can handle it.

When to do it: Once a year, any season.

6. Testing Smoke Detectors and CO Monitors

You’d think this would be automatic, but I walk into homes every week where the smoke detectors are chirping — or missing batteries entirely. The National Fire Protection Association recommends testing smoke alarms monthly and replacing the units every 10 years.

Carbon monoxide detectors are even more critical and even more neglected. Any home with a gas furnace, gas water heater, or an attached garage should have CO detectors on every level. Missouri doesn’t have a statewide mandate for CO detectors in existing single-family homes, but the International Code Council’s residential code requires them in new construction, and for good reason.

When to do it: Test monthly. Replace batteries annually (or when the unit chirps). Replace entire units every 10 years — check the manufacture date on the back.

7. Clearing Dryer Vent Buildup

The dryer vent is the most overlooked fire hazard in a home. Period. The U.S. Fire Administration reports that clothes dryers cause an estimated 2,900 residential fires every year, and failure to clean the vent is the leading cause.

Most people clean the lint trap after every load — good. But lint also accumulates in the duct that runs from the back of the dryer to the outside wall. Over time, that duct narrows, the dryer runs hotter, and you’ve got a fire waiting to happen.

Disconnect the duct from the back of the dryer once a year and clean it out. If your vent run is longer than six feet or makes more than one turn, consider having it professionally cleaned. If your dryer takes longer than one cycle to dry a regular load, that’s a sign the vent is already partially blocked.

When to do it: At least once a year. If your dryer runs hot or slow, do it now.

8. Checking Exterior Grading and Drainage

Water management is everything for St. Louis homes. We sit on heavy clay soils — especially in St. Charles County and West County — that don’t drain well and expand when wet. That expansion puts lateral pressure on foundation walls, leading to cracks and bowing over time.

The International Residential Code calls for a minimum slope of six inches over the first ten feet away from the foundation. Walk your property after a rain and watch where water pools. If it’s sitting against the house, you need to add soil to rebuild the grade.

Also check that your downspout extensions are directing water at least four feet from the foundation. I see downspouts dumping right next to the foundation wall in at least half the homes I visit. That’s a direct path to basement moisture problems.

When to do it: After spring thaw and again after heavy summer storms.

9. Servicing Exterior Faucets (Hose Bibs)

Here’s a classic St. Louis springtime disaster: the homeowner turns on the outdoor faucet for the first time in April and gets a geyser inside the basement wall. The pipe froze over winter, cracked, and nobody noticed until the water was flowing.

Frost-free hose bibs are standard on newer construction, but older homes across Florissant, Bridgeton, Maryland Heights, and much of St. Louis City still have standard exterior faucets. If you didn’t winterize them in the fall, check them carefully before cranking them open in the spring. Have someone stand inside and watch the pipe while you open the valve outside.

If you keep forgetting to winterize, consider upgrading to frost-free hose bibs. It’s a straightforward plumbing job that prevents this problem entirely.

When to do it: Winterize before the first freeze (typically late October). Test before first spring use.

10. Inspecting the Deck and Patio

Missouri weather is brutal on decks. UV exposure, rain, freeze-thaw cycles, and humidity all conspire to break down wood fibers. Most treated lumber decks need restaining or resealing every two to three years, but I routinely see decks that haven’t been touched in seven or eight years.

The American Wood Protection Association sets retention standards for pressure-treated lumber, but even properly treated wood degrades over time without surface protection. Check for soft spots, popped nails, wobbly railings, and signs of rot — especially where the deck connects to the house (the ledger board) and around posts that contact the ground.

If you catch problems early, a few board replacements and a fresh coat of stain can buy you another decade. Wait too long, and you’re looking at a full rebuild. Read more about that decision in our guide on deck repair, staining, and replacement.

When to do it: Early spring, before deck season kicks in.

The Bottom Line

None of these tasks are glamorous. Nobody posts their gutter cleaning on social media. But every one of them protects your home’s value, prevents expensive emergency repairs, and keeps your family safe.

If you’re behind on any of these, don’t beat yourself up — just start knocking them out. And if you’d rather have someone else handle the list, that’s literally what we do. Give us a call and we’ll work through it together.

Your house takes a beating from Missouri weather every year. The least you can do is fight back with a little prevention.