Seasonal care

A Seasonal Maintenance Calendar for Canadian Cottages

Updated 2026-06-03 · About 9 minutes

A cottage rarely fails all at once. It drifts: a clogged gutter one season, a soft sill the next, then a winter that finds every weakness at the same time. The most reliable defence is not a single big project but a calendar — a short list of tasks tied to the moments when they actually matter. In much of Canada the year breaks into three working windows, and each one rewards a different kind of attention.

Spring opening: assess before you settle in

The first visit after thaw is for inspection, not relaxation. Snow and meltwater have just spent months testing the building, and the evidence is freshest now.

• Walk the perimeter and look up. Lifted shingles, a sagging gutter, or a downspout pulled away from the wall usually point to ice and snow movement over winter.
• Check where meltwater drains. Pooling against the foundation is the single most common cause of damp crawlspaces and basements.
• Open slowly. Before restoring water, look under sinks and at exposed joints for splits that freezing may have caused, especially if winterizing was rushed the previous fall.
• Air it out. A closed building collects moisture; a few days of cross-ventilation lowers the humidity that feeds mildew.

Summer: steady, small, and dry

Warm months are for the jobs that need dry weather and time to cure. None are urgent on their own, which is exactly why they slip.

Around the building

• Re-seal exterior wood that has gone grey or is shedding water poorly. A test: sprinkle water on the surface — if it soaks in rather than beading, the finish is due.
• Clear gutters once leaf-fall slows and again before autumn. Most fall ice problems trace back to a blockage placed months earlier.
• Trim branches that overhang the roof. They drop debris, hold moisture against shingles, and become a hazard under snow or ice load.

Grounds and access

• Keep the lawn and clearing cut back from the structure so the base of the walls can dry after rain.
• Check that the driveway or laneway still sheds water away from the building; ruts redirect runoff in ways that are easy to miss.

Fall closing: work to a deadline

Autumn is the only window with a hard edge. The first sustained freeze sets the deadline, and it arrives earlier than many owners expect. Treat the closing routine as a sequence, not a single afternoon.

Task	Why it matters	Rough timing
Final gutter clear	Prevents the blockages that drive ice dams	After leaf-fall
Drain plumbing	Water left in pipes can freeze and split them	Before first hard frost
Shut off and protect	Power, propane, and water systems left in a known state	Closing visit
Secure openings	Keeps out wildlife and wind-driven snow	Closing visit

The plumbing step is detailed enough that it has its own guide. If your cottage is unheated over winter, read it before your closing visit rather than during it.

Keeping the calendar honest

A maintenance calendar only works if it is written down and dated. A simple notebook left at the cottage — what was checked, what was deferred, and the date — turns vague memory into a record you can act on. Over a few seasons the pattern of recurring small jobs becomes obvious, and the list gets shorter because nothing is forgotten long enough to become large.

Continue with winterizing a seasonal cottage for the freeze-up steps, or caring for wood siding, logs, and decks for the summer refinishing work referenced above.