The weather can be a friend or an adversary. Some days you’re grateful for its beauty, while other days it is the opposite. It is important to know which to prepare for, and how to go about it. When proper attention is given to maintenance and emergency services, the landowner can rest easy when the worst of the season arrives.

The Summer Months

Many warmer states experience droughts — long periods without rain — during summer months. The most common failure of landscape maintenance is irrigation. Among landscaping problems, irrigation causes an estimated 80% of them. To ensure your land is properly irrigated, check EPA requirements to ensure you are as environmentally safe as possible. Environmental compliance, maintenance and emergency services are key to maintaining water conservation, thus keeping your land in good shape.

Droughts will also affect soil, and it can save landscaped areas to keep it cool and safe from the sun’s heat. One act of facility maintenance is to lay a 2 or 3 inch layer of mulch over the soil. This will keep it from drying out during the intense heat and lack of rainfall.

The Winter Months

Cold weather can also provide problems regarding maintenance and emergency services. Ice builds up on pavement and other areas, and can create an unsafe environment. To get rid of it, as you’ll already know if you live in an area where it’s common, you need to use ice melting chemicals. These chemicals are either exothermic or endothermic. Exothermic means the chemical creates heat from itself, and endothermic means it draws heat from the surroundings. Calcium chloride, a non-sodium exothermic, is the most widely used of these because it is effect at temperatures as low as -25 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s also environmentally safe, as it doesn’t harm plants or wildlife during its use.

Pavement Sweeping

It is also important to keep pavement clean and traversable, not only for the environment but also in case of an emergency. Strong winds, or even heavy foot traffic, can clutter parking lots or roads. Sweeping services can provide one-time or regularly scheduled maintenance to these areas. The sweepers in New York, using engine-driven machines, are capable of covering as much as 6,000 miles (8 miles an hour) in a single day. This means that, no matter how much area you need cleared of debris, a sweeper company can solve the problem in very little time. Whether it’s trash, dirt, or even a spill clean up, their technology will make it an easy job.

Preparation and mindfulness is important when it comes to the changing of seasons. Many times, it takes a few years before you understand the proper maintenance and emergency services to consider, but hopefully this information is helpful in understanding your role in proper facility maintenance.