Opening up a summer house in spring: a checklist before the first night

What to check before you go inside

Walk around the outside first. Look at the foundation for new cracks, check that meltwater has drained away from the walls rather than pooling against them, and see whether the roofline or gutters have shifted. A short walk round tells you more than the first ten minutes indoors.

Check the door and any padlocks before forcing them: a swollen wooden door after a wet winter can need working loose rather than pulling from cold hinges. If a window has been left open by an animal or a storm, expect damp inside and air the place out slowly rather than switching everything on straight away.

Turning the water back on and a first check of the pipes

If the system was drained properly in autumn, opening the stopcock is usually straightforward: do it slowly, listen for hissing or running water where there shouldn't be any, and check under sinks and around the boiler or heater for damp before you leave the house unattended.

A pipe that froze despite draining, or a joint that moved over winter, often only shows itself once there's pressure in the system again, so give it twenty minutes with the water on before deciding all is well. Outside taps and any hose bib deserve their own check, since these freeze first and are often the last thing anyone thinks of.

If you find a split pipe, a leaking valve, or brown water that doesn't clear, that's a job for a plumber rather than trial and error — plumbing work starts from 45 € an hour, and a fixed quote is available once the damage is described or photographed.

Switching the electrics back on safely

Before you touch the consumer unit, look it over for any sign that damp has got in — discolouration, a smell, or a fuse that looks corroded. If the house has stood unheated and unheated damp is a real possibility, it's worth having the system checked before load is put back on it rather than after.

Switch circuits on one at a time rather than all together, and note anything that trips immediately: that's the panel telling you where the problem is rather than something to reset repeatedly. An outdoor socket, a sauna heater, or anything that runs to an outbuilding is worth treating with particular caution after a winter outside.

Rewiring, a tripping breaker that won't stay reset, or anything involving the meter or the incoming supply is electrical work and should go to a qualified electrician — call-out for this starts from 49 € an hour.

Checking the roof, doors and windows

Snow load and ice are hard on a roof, and the damage often isn't visible from the ground. Look in the loft for water stains, daylight through the roof boards, or insulation that has slipped or gone damp, since this is usually where a leak shows first, well before it reaches a ceiling.

Doors and windows that swelled over a wet autumn and then froze shut often need planing or re-hanging rather than force. Check that seals and weatherstripping haven't perished, and that window putty or trim hasn't come away, since this is where draughts and small pests both get in.

• Loft and roof boards for water stains or daylight
• Gutters and downpipes cleared of last autumn's leaves
• Door and window seals still flexible, not cracked or missing
• Hinges and locks moving freely, not seized
• Flashing around the chimney or roof windows still intact

Looking for pests and signs of rodents

An empty house over winter is an invitation to mice, and sometimes to larger visitors if a gap under the eaves or around a pipe was never closed off. Check skirting boards, cupboard backs and any insulation you can reach for droppings, gnaw marks, or a nesting smell before you unpack food or bedding.

Outbuildings and a woodpile against the wall are common entry points, so check these too, not just the main rooms. If you find an infestation rather than the odd sign of one, dealing with the entry point properly is worth more than traps alone, and is the kind of odd job that's simple to fix once someone can get to it — from 39 € an hour, minimum one hour.

What to sort before the first night

Once water and power are confirmed working and the building has been aired out, the last checks are about comfort rather than safety: that the water heater has had time to reach temperature, that bedding hasn't picked up damp in storage, and that a smoke alarm with a winter-flat battery gets a fresh one.

Leave a window or two cracked open during the day for the first week if the weather allows, so the house dries out properly rather than trapping winter damp under a closed-up roof. Anything that turned out bigger than a spring tidy — a stuck door, a damp patch, a circuit that needs a proper look — is easier to book in early in the season than to leave until the first hot weekend.