Opening-Up Checklist

This handy list of tasks will keep you on track this spring.

  • Do a preliminary walk-around inspection of cottage
  • Trim back trees overhanging cottage
  • Gather loose brush into piles for kindling
  • Take down shutters
  • Check for and replace chewed electrical wires
  • Put up screens and patch holes before bugs find them
  • Take care of foot valve
  • Reconnect water pipes
  • Check for shifting foundations
  • Prime and start the pump
  • Wood preservative!!
  • Inspect the roof and eaves for loose or missing shingles, faulty flashing, gaping holes
  • Clean eavestroughs
  • Buy fuel for oil lamps
  • Stock up on candles and matches
  • Discard food in pantry if it shows signs of mice or bug visitation
  • Pitch out food tins bulging or swollen from freezing
  • Replace old herbs and spices in pantry, Martha
  • Clean out medicine cabinet
  • Check appliances for critter damage or habitation before
    turning on
  • Fill the hot-water tank (before turning on the heating element – doh!)
  • Test batteries in flashlights and smoke and CO detectors
  • Clean the woodstove and fireplace chimneys
  • Build Mary's pass-through window on back porch
  • Clean up after mice with damp mop and disinfectant
  • Find mouse holes and block the suckers with steel wool
  • Restock the first aid kit
  • Repair sticky doors and windows
  • Fix broken window panes and replace old putty
  • Check and replace damaged caulking and weatherstripping
  • Inspect and tighten loose deck stairs and railings
  • Find out why pads under deck posts are shifting
  • Make ring game for kids
  • Sharpen blades on trimmer and chainsaw
  • Put up the flagpole and replace worn halyards
  • Clean barbecue
  • Fix tippy dock
  • Inspect flotation in floating docks
  • Fix friggin' potholes in lane
  • Tighten or reinstall loose dock cleats and rings
  • Hammer in raised nails on dock and repair loose boards
  • Inspect life preservers for damage; make sure there are enough for everybody
  • Do kids' lifejackets still fit?
  • Make horseshoe pit before family reunion!!!
  • Clean and set out porch furniture
  • Sit down, have a beer


Click here to download a printable PDF version of this checklist to take to your cottage.

Want to comment on this checklist or tell us about an opening up adventure at your cottage? Send an e-mail to letters@cottagelife.com.

Published in the March 2002 issue of Cottage Life (sold out).

Copyright © 2002 by Cottage Life. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any article, photograph, or artwork, for other than personal use, in whole or in part, without the written permission of the publisher is strictly forbidden.