Preparing the cottage for spring according to all the rules

At the end of autumn, summer residents leave their garden plots and houses, leaving them face to face with the elements. Snow is accumulating on the roof, the walls and roof are covered with ice, and the water supply system is freezing. Proper preparation for the first thaw will protect the house from moisture and prevent mold from appearing. It is recommended to start preparatory work as early as possible.

Scope of work: damage assessment

The main enemy of a country house is dampness. Especially often it attacks unheated cottages. With the onset of cold weather, walls and roofs freeze through, and the first thaw turns ice into puddles. Water partially seeps into microcracks and gaps, and when the thaw ends, it becomes ice again and deforms the coatings. Therefore, preparing the cottage for spring usually begins with airing the house and thoroughly draining it.

Basement and attic

A basement is a vulnerable place due to the buried position and the proximity of groundwater. If there is no good drainage in the garden, meltwater will flood the underground. First of all, its condition is checked: if it is flooded, the water is pumped out, all stored things are taken out into the sun. Then you need to dry the room with high quality so that the moisture does not continue to destroy the walls and foundation.

Another “weak link” is the attic or attic. Even in a heated house, they are often flooded with water from the roof when the snow melts. The procedure for preparing the attic in the spring for the season is the same as for the basement: ventilate, remove all furniture, and dry thoroughly.

Living rooms and utility rooms

They suffer less from dampness. Preparing a dacha in the spring for the season for living rooms often comes down to general cleaning: wash the floors and walls, wipe the dust, remove the cobwebs that have accumulated in the corners, and wash the windows. Furniture and carpets are recommended to be taken out in the sun, knocked out, dried thoroughly (even if they do not look damp) – this will kill mold spores and repel insects that may have settled in the upholstery.
After the dacha took on a cozy and lived-in look, it was the turn to check the condition of the engineering systems: conduct a test run of the water supply and electrical networks with a minimum load. Pay attention to the condition of the pipeline and power cables – if there are any leaks or sparks. If everything works as it should, the preparation of the country house for spring is over, we move on to the garden plot.

Soil preparation

An approximate plan for preparing the soil in the country in the spring for the season is as follows:

1. Loosening the top layer.
2. Fertilization into the soil: note that organic materials (peat, manure) are applied to the already heated ground, but phosphates and other minerals are used immediately, as soon as the snow has melted.
3. Breakdown of flower beds and beds, checking the condition of the paths.

If there are greenhouses on the site, they are ventilated. Often, from insufficient air circulation, the top layer of soil in greenhouses is covered with mold. In this case, it is removed and replaced with fresh healthy soil.

Preparation of fruit trees

When doing preparatory work in the country in the spring, do not forget to check how fruit trees and shrubs overwintered. Remove dead, broken or simply non-viable branches, look at the integrity of the bark on the trunk, if it is broken, clean this area and cover with a special mixture. But it is better to leave the whitewash until March, when the snow has completely melted and warm, dry weather has set in.

To help the summer resident: equipment that simplifies the care of the dacha

Preparing a cottage for the spring season was easy and fast, use the secrets and general recommendations. For example:

1. So that the furniture does not absorb dust, cover it in the fall, then in the spring, it remains only to remove and wash the protective fabric.
2. Empty the irrigation and water supply system before winter: then it will not freeze and the pipes will not burst.
3. Cover shrubs and small fruit trees: they will not break under the weight of snow and will not die if abnormal frosts hit.

But there are modern ways to simplify spring cleaning in the country. For example, the use of air solar collectors. This device works on the principle of a fan heater and solves the following tasks:

• drains rooms: basement and attic will dry out quickly;
• eliminates stale air in living rooms;
• prevents mold from growing by maintaining a healthy microclimate;
• maintains a positive temperature in the house in the winter: it will not freeze, and in the spring there will be no condensation and puddles of meltwater.

All this simplifies the preparatory seasonal work, and the cottage itself will survive the frost well. Air solar collectors do not require a connection to the power grid (they work using solar energy), therefore they are used without human control. Devices automatically ventilate and heat the house throughout the winter, and in the spring the owners come to the dacha, which practically does not need cleaning and repair.

The earlier and better we prepare the cottage for spring, the more productive the planting season will begin, and the higher the yield will be in the fall.

View equipment for a country house