Calgary's maintenance window is short — use it
Between the last spring snow and the first hard freeze, Calgary homeowners get roughly a hundred usable days for exterior work. Caulking needs temperature. Paint needs temperature. Grading needs unfrozen ground. Roof repairs need dry decking. Concrete needs curing conditions.
Everything on this list is worth doing anyway. Doing it in June and July means it is finished before hail season peaks, before smoke season arrives, and long before the first chinook cycle tests your drainage.
Roof, eavestrough and hail review
Walk the perimeter and look up. From the ground with binoculars you can see missing or lifted shingles, exposed nail heads, damaged ridge caps, loose flashing at walls and chimneys, and bare spots where granules have washed off. In the eavestrough, a build-up of granules is a genuine wear indicator.
After a hail event, note the date and photograph what you see. Insurers care about event dates. If your neighbourhood took a notable storm and neighbours are getting roofs replaced, get an assessment even if you cannot see damage from the ground — impact bruising is often invisible without walking the roof.
Clean eavestrough, confirm slope to downspouts, check for separated joints and confirm every downspout is attached and discharging away from the house.
Drainage, grading and window wells
Check the perimeter for soil sloping toward the foundation, settled trenches over the original backfill, patios and walkways tilting back toward the wall, and mulch or soil piled above the top of the foundation.
Extend downspouts to at least 1.8 metres. Excavate buried window wells back to a clear gravel base. Confirm well covers still allow drainage. Look at where the sump pump discharges — it should not be dumping right back beside the foundation.
This is the highest-return item on the list. Most basement moisture in this city is created outside.
Envelope: caulking, paint, siding and windows
Inspect exterior caulking at window and door perimeters, wall penetrations, hose bibs, dryer and range vents, and service entries. Failed caulking is the most common water-entry path in stucco and hardboard-clad Calgary homes.
Check siding for hail dents, cracked or loose panels, and ground contact. Look at stucco for cracking, particularly around window corners. Touch up exterior paint on wood trim, fascia and doors while temperatures allow.
Windows: check for failed seals (fogging between panes), damaged screens, deteriorated glazing tape and weatherstripping that is worth replacing now rather than in November.
Mechanical: cooling, ventilation and the fire items
Have the air conditioner or heat pump serviced early in the season, before contractors are booked out three weeks in a heat wave. Clear at least a half metre around the condenser, straighten obviously flattened fins or have them combed, and check that the pad is level.
Change the furnace filter and upgrade it if your equipment supports higher efficiency ahead of smoke season. Clean or replace the HRV filters and wash the core if your manual allows. Confirm the HRV drain is clear.
Clean the full dryer vent run, not just the lint trap. Clear the range hood filter. Test every smoke alarm and carbon monoxide alarm, replace batteries, and replace any alarm past its manufacturer date — alarms expire, typically at seven to ten years.
Water, irrigation and exterior plumbing
Open hose bibs and check for leaking at the wall, which can indicate a split from a previous winter. Check irrigation heads for spray hitting the house or siding — a sprinkler soaking a foundation wall every morning is a basement-moisture source disguised as landscaping.
Test the sump pump by pouring water into the pit and confirming it cycles and discharges. Check the backup power arrangement if you have one. Look under sinks and at the water heater base for slow leaks that have been hiding all winter.
Deck, fence, garage and grounds
Walk the deck: bounce on it, push on the guards, look at the ledger connection where the deck meets the house, and probe soft spots at stair stringers and posts at ground level. Clean and re-coat if it has been more than two or three seasons.
Check fence posts at the ground line, retaining walls for lean or bulging, and tree branches within a couple of metres of the roof. Trim vegetation back off siding to keep it dry.
In the garage, test overhead door auto-reverse and photo-eyes, lubricate the track hardware, and look for water staining on the underside of the roof sheathing.
Document everything you do
Take photos, save invoices and keep a simple maintenance log with dates. When you sell, that file is the single most persuasive thing you can hand a buyer's inspector and a buyer's agent.
It shortens negotiation, reduces the number of unknowns in the report, and reframes an older system from a risk into a maintained asset. A pre-listing inspection a season before you go to market turns that same file into a prioritized plan.
