Summer Maintenance

Living that mountain life

Owning a home or cabin in the mountains is fun and relaxing. The smell of the woods, wildlife encounters, a glittering canopy of stars…living here is truly an honor and a privilege. Life at 11,000 feet gives you a new perspective on the world. We love it, and we wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

However, living up here comes with a lot of routine, seasonal chores that aren’t exactly outlined in the listing. You might find yourself wondering what needs doing and when, and how to go about getting that maintenance done.

Summer up here is short, so we know that time is precious. Here’s a short list of chores that should get done, how often they should get done, and who to call for help (hint: us!).

In the yard

Picking up slash, trimming ladder fuels, and taking down standing dead trees is a vital chore and a social responsibility in our beautiful forest. Removing fallen, dry wood from your land helps reduce the risk of forest fires and helps to protect your home and your neighbors’ homes. It’s something that has to be done every summer, at least a little bit at a time. We offer an extensive array of arbor services to help out with this.

on the driveway

This is a mountain, and to be frank, erosion is going to happen no matter what we do. Heavy snow turns into rivers of snowmelt come spring, high winds rip through the forest, cars and plows move road base around…eventually, unless you pave your driveway, you will need to resurface it. On average, your driveway will need resurfacing every 3-4 years, and if your driveway is older than 10 years, you may also want to make sure that it’s up to code in terms of grade and width. We can help with all of this!

at the house

Being up on the mountain, I like to remind people that we are at least 10,000 feet closer to the sun than our flat land counterparts. This means that the sun is a lot more intense up here, and combined with all the heavy winter snow, it can fade the stain on your house and deck and dry out your deck boards, causing them to crack and warp. Depending on your sun exposure, you will likely need to stain your house every 5 years. Deck boards can be replaced one at a time, and you’ll know which ones by whether or not they lay flush with the boards around them. Lucky for you, we can do all these chores and more!