A Month-by-Month Home Maintenance Calendar for Delhi NCR

February to April: the mild window — do the big work now

These are the kindest weeks of the Delhi year for building work: warm enough for paint and adhesives to cure, dry, and not yet the season when everyone else is booking. If you have a large job planned, this is its window.

• Interior and exterior painting. Dry, mild, low humidity. Later in the year it is either too hot, too wet or too dusty.
• Any renovation or fit-out work. Trades are more available now than they will be in May or October. Our guide on planning a home renovation covers the order the trades have to run in.
• The pre-summer AC service — booked in March, not May. Filters, coil, gas check and drainage, done before the first heatwave rather than during it. This is the single most reliably worthwhile booking of the year.
• Check the inverter and battery before the load-shedding season starts.
• Deep clean after the winter close-up. Curtains, upholstery, fans and the dust that settled through smog season.

May and June: peak heat, and the last chance before the rains

Two things are happening at once. The heat is testing every appliance and every part of the electrical system, and the clock is running out on all the dry-weather work that must be finished before the monsoon.

• Finish all waterproofing now. Terrace, balconies, external walls, any known damp patch. A coating cannot bond to a wet surface, so work not done by the end of June waits a whole season. See our terrace waterproofing guide.
• Clear every drain while it is dry and empty. Balcony outlets, terrace drains, gully traps. A ten-minute job now; an emergency in July.
• Get the water tank cleaned. Before the season when roof runoff and dust find their way past a loose lid. Our tank cleaning guide covers what a proper clean includes.
• Watch the electrical system under load. Warm switch plates, an MCB tripping in the afternoon, or lights dimming when the AC starts are all things this season reveals. Do not ignore them because it is hot — heat is what exposes weak wiring.
• Pest-proof before the rains. Kill standing water, seal gaps, treat drains. Cheaper than treating an infestation in August.

The full version of this block is our monsoon home maintenance checklist — work through that one properly in May rather than skimming it in July.

July to September: monsoon — watch, do not start

The monsoon is not a season for starting work. It is a season for noticing, recording and protecting, so that the dry weeks in October are spent fixing the right things.

• Photograph every damp patch as it appears, with dates. This is the only time of year a seepage problem shows itself honestly, and the record is what a professional will want later — and what a society complaint needs.
• Treat any electrical fault as urgent, not seasonal. Damp plus electricity is the monsoon’s real danger. A circuit that trips only in the wet is telling you something.
• Keep drains clear as the rain brings debris, and check the terrace outlets after every heavy spell.
• Run the AC in dry mode and keep wardrobes ventilated to hold mould off clothes and leather.
• Do not let anyone waterproof a wet surface. If a leak starts now, the honest answer is a temporary cover and the real treatment once things dry. Anything else peels within a season.

October to January: festivals, smog, then cold damp

The busiest stretch of the year for every trade in the city, followed by the quietest and coldest one. Plan the first half early and use the second half for the jobs nobody else is booking.

• October: book Diwali work four to six weeks ahead. The festive fortnight is peak demand for cleaners, painters, carpenters, electricians and pest control simultaneously. Booking late means poor availability, not just inconvenience.
• October: fix what the monsoon exposed. This is the right moment for the damp patches you photographed in August, now that surfaces are dry again. Our wall seepage guide covers tracing the source rather than repainting the mark.
• November: smog season habits. Change or clean air purifier filters, keep windows shut on bad days, damp-dust rather than dry-dust, and clean AC and fan blades that have collected a season of particulates.
• November: the geyser check before it is needed daily. Hard-water scale, the MCB, earthing and the pressure-release valve, looked at before winter rather than after a cold morning failure.
• December and January: the quiet months. Cold nights slow paint drying, but this is a good stretch for carpentry, appliance servicing and the accumulated small-repairs list. Trades are more available than at any other time of year.
• January: plan the year. Look at what recurred, and put next year’s bookings in the diary before the rushes. Our tip on budgeting for home maintenance turns this calendar into a plan by trade.