September 14, 2026
Spring arrives at the cottage differently than it does in town. In town you notice the light. At the cottage you notice the smell — cold, closed-up air, a hint of damp, maybe a scatter of mouse droppings behind the toaster. The lake is loud with meltwater, the driveway is half mud, and somewhere under the snow line something has shifted, leaked or cracked since October.
The temptation is to unpack first and inspect later. Do it the other way around. Spend the first hour walking the property with a notepad, working from the outside in and the top down, and let the building tell you what happened over the winter. A small leak caught in April is a weekend job; the same leak found in July is a floor replacement.
Start With the Roof and Chimney
Stand well back — the far side of the driveway or out on the lawn — and look at the roof through binoculars. You are checking for shingles that have lifted, curled or gone missing, and for flashing that has pulled away from the chimney, vents or skylights. Flashings are where most cottage leaks begin.
Freeze-thaw cycles do the real damage up here. Water works into a hairline gap, freezes, expands and opens the gap a little wider, then repeats that trick all winter. Look for cracked or missing caulking, rusted nails, and dark staining on the underside of the roof deck if you can see it from inside the loft.
The chimney deserves its own look: a cap that is still attached, a spark arrestor in place, no bird nests or squirrel stashes in the flue. If you burn wood, have the chimney swept before the first fire, not after. And if anything up there looks wrong, hire someone. Wet, windblown shingles are not a sensible place to learn roofing, and spring is a busy season for trades, so call early.
Clear the Gutters and Move Water Away
Clogged gutters are the most common cause of a damp basement or crawlspace in spring. Leaves and grit from the fall, plus ice damming over the winter, leave troughs that overflow directly against the foundation.
- Clear gutters by hand or with a scoop, not by blasting them with a hose from the ground.
- Check that hangers and brackets still hold the trough tight to the fascia.
- Confirm every downspout is connected and that water actually leaves — extend it well away from the foundation if it currently dumps at the wall.
- Look at the grade. Soil should slope away from the building, not toward it. A few wheelbarrows of topsoil in the right place can solve a persistently damp corner.
- If you have a sump pit, test the pump by pouring in a bucket of water and watching it cycle.
Inside, walk the perimeter of the basement or crawlspace with a flashlight. Water stains, white powdery efflorescence or a fresh musty smell all point to a drainage problem that started outside.
Windows, Doors and Screens
Open every window. This is both an inspection and the fastest way to air out a closed-up building. Check for cracked panes and seals that have failed — you will see fogging between the panes of a double-glazed unit. Swap storm windows or inserts for screens.
Look at the caulking around frames and sills, and probe the sill itself with a screwdriver. Soft wood means rot that has been fed by water sitting on the sill. Weatherstripping on doors is cheap and easy to replace; do it now, before black flies make you want to keep everything shut.
While you are at it, hunt for mouse entry points. Gaps around pipes under the sink, the corner of a bulkhead door, the space under a warped sill plate. Steel wool packed into a gap works well and is miserable for rodents to chew through.
Water, Power and the First Night
If the cottage was drained and shut down in the fall, the order here matters.
- Turn the main breaker on, one circuit at a time, and listen for anything that trips immediately.
- Close all taps and fixtures, then bring the water back on slowly at the main valve.
- Walk the whole system — every tap, toilet tank, the hot water tank fittings, the pump — watching for drips and listening for running water with everything shut off.
- Flush the lines and run the hot water tank through a full cycle before using it.
- Test smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and replace the batteries.
A burst pipe from a hard frost is the classic spring surprise, so check the corners of the basement and any unheated crawlspace carefully. Go easy on water for the first day or two if you are on a septic system; the tank has been sitting cold and quiet all winter. Anything involving propane, buried electrical or the well pump itself is worth a call to a licensed technician rather than a guess.
Porch, Deck and Steps
Walk the deck with your weight on each board and pay attention to spring. Popped nails, loose railings and rot at the base of posts are the three things to find early. Rot usually starts where a post meets concrete or where a board end sits against a rim joist — poke those spots with a screwdriver.
Check the railings by leaning hard on them. A railing that wobbles is a genuine safety problem, not a cosmetic one, especially with kids and grandparents around. Sweep the porch, scrub the outdoor furniture, and clear the patio door track of grit that will grind the rollers. Once the wood is dry and the forecast looks stable, that is your window for staining or sealing.
Garden and Grounds
Rake the beds once the soil has dried enough that it crumbles rather than clumps. Working wet soil compacts it, and you will fight that all summer. Cut back the perennials you left standing for winter interest and pull the dead annuals out of pots.
Look up before you look down. Winter storms leave hanging limbs over the roof, the driveway and the power line, and those need to come down before new leaves add weight or a windy day does it for you. Move firewood away from the cottage wall. Check the dock and shoreline for ice damage. If you keep a boat, do the mechanical checks now, because everyone else will want their engine serviced in the same three weeks.
Finally, walk the perimeter for garbage that blew in and for anything that shifted: fence posts, steps, the outdoor shower, the barbecue.
Putting the Checklist to Work
Do the inspections in a sensible order on opening weekend: perimeter first, then roof and gutters, then interior moisture and pests, then water and power, then porch, then grounds. Keep a running list in a notebook that stays at the cottage, and add to it every spring. Half the value is knowing what you fixed last year and whether it held.
Budget a little for surprises, and be honest about your limits. Structural, electrical, propane and well or septic problems belong with a qualified professional — and a good local one is far easier to book in April than in July.
Photo: Samuel Sweet / Pexels
