It’s spring cleaning time, and if you’re like many people, you’re looking at all areas of your home, including those you don’t see often. If your eyes are on the attic, you’re in luck! Learn the best time of year to clean your attic and some tips to keep yourself safe while completing this task.
The Best Time of Year to Clean Your Attic
The spring and fall are the goldilocks months of the year: not too hot, and not too cold. Your attic is particularly sensitive to temperature because, unlike other areas of your home, it generally doesn’t have any heating or cooling system. In the summertime, for example, your attic can reach an incredible 150°F—even hotter than the interior of your car after a few minutes in the sun. During the winter, you have the opposite problem in that your uninsulated attic is approximately the same temperature as the outside.
Safety Tips for Cleaning out Your Attic
- Watch where you walk. Unless your attic is finished, you likely only have wood boards as flooring in certain areas of the attic. You also probably have fiberglass insulation—which is a pink, foam-like material—in other areas. Be extra careful around the fiberglass, as this is where you can accidentally fall right through the ceiling.
- Be careful about carrying items up and down. Carrying heavy items down your standard stairs is risky enough. Carrying them down a ladder is a recipe for injury. When going up and down, you should always face the ladder, so you might need a partner to help get things up and down.
- Make a plan to minimize your time in the attic. Because of the many safety risks, it’s important to go into your cleanout with a plan. Decide what your goal is, and get in and out as quickly and safely as possible. If you’re going up there for holiday decorations, it’s probably not the time to sort through the baby supplies.
