A Maintenance Routine Worth Keeping

Maintenance schedules fail because they are too ambitious to keep. A short routine that actually happens is worth more than a thorough one that is skipped twice and then abandoned.

Four steps, once a season, in this order:

1. Clear the surfaces completely, so that what is underneath can be seen rather than worked around.
2. Deal with anything that is already loose — a fixing, a hinge, a seam. Loose things get worse; nothing else on this list does.
3. Clean, then let everything dry fully before it goes back. Most damage attributed to cleaning is really damage from reassembling too early.
4. Write down what was replaced and when. Next season this note answers a question that memory will not.

The order matters more than the thoroughness. Repairs made before cleaning get undone by the cleaning.