How often should you…? Every maintenance interval
Updated July 2026
The twenty-six intervals that keep a house out of trouble, in one table: HVAC filter every 90 days, water heater flush yearly, gutters twice a year, septic every 3–5 years, GFCI outlets tested monthly, grout resealed yearly, each linked to a deep dive covering what moves the number for your home, what skipping it costs in real dollars, and how to do the task. Print the table, or let OnOtto run the whole schedule for you.
| Task | How often | It depends on… |
|---|---|---|
| How often should you change your HVAC filter? | Every 90 days | 30–60 days with pets or allergies; 6–12 months for thick media filters |
| How often should you flush your water heater? | Once a year | Every 6 months in hard-water areas; descale tankless annually |
| How often should you clean your dryer vent? | Once a year | The duct (the lint screen is every load); every 6 months for heavy use |
| How often should you clean refrigerator coils? | Every 6–12 months | Every 6 months with shedding pets; some sealed modern units skip it |
| How often should you replace smoke detector batteries? | Every 6 months | 10-year sealed units need no swaps; replace any detector at 10 years |
| How often should you pump your septic tank? | Every 3–5 years | Sooner for big households or small tanks; inspect every 1–3 years |
| How often should you test your sump pump? | Every 3–4 months | Always test before spring melt / rainy season; replace pumps ~every 10 years |
| How often should you add water softener salt? | Check monthly | Top up below half-full, typically a 40-lb bag every 4–8 weeks |
| How often should you clean your gutters? | Twice a year | Late spring + late fall; quarterly under heavy tree cover |
| How often should you service your garage door? | Once a year | Full lube + tune yearly; auto-reverse safety test monthly |
| How often should you inspect your roof? | Twice a year | Ground-level look spring + fall and after storms; pro every 2–3 years |
| How often should you clean your chimney? | Once a year | NFPA 211: inspect annually; sweep at 1/8" creosote, yearly for regular burners |
| How often should you replace the furnace humidifier filter? | Once a year | The water panel, at the start of heating season; every 6 months in hard water |
| How often should you drain and flush a tankless water heater? | Once a year | Descale flush; every 6 months in hard water (many warranties require it) |
| How often should you have your HVAC professionally serviced? | Twice a year | AC tune-up in spring, furnace in fall; heat pumps get both visits |
| How often should you change the refrigerator water filter? | Every 6 months | Every 3–4 months on well water or heavy dispenser/ice use |
| How often should you clean the range hood filter? | Every 1–3 months | Monthly for daily cooking; recirculating hoods also need charcoal filters replaced |
| How often should you clean your washing machine? | Monthly | Tub-clean cycle; wipe front-loader gaskets weekly, drain-pump filter every 3–6 months |
| How often should you seal granite countertops? | About once a year | Let the water-drop test decide: dense granites need it rarely; quartz never |
| How often should you reseal grout? | Yearly in showers | Every 2 years on tile floors; recaulk corners and tub joints when cracked |
| How often should you replace the toilet flapper? | Every 4–5 years | Sooner with in-tank cleaner tablets; dye-test for silent leaks twice a year |
| How often should you lubricate door hinges and locks? | Once a year | Dry lube (PTFE/graphite) in locks, oil or silicone on hinges; fall is the natural slot |
| How often should you test GFCI outlets? | Monthly | The official line; quarterly is the realistic floor. Replace any unit that fails the test |
| How often should you winterize your sprinkler system? | Once a year | Every fall before the first hard freeze; book the blowout by early October in freeze country |
| How often should you fertilize your lawn? | 2–4 times a year | Cool-season grass: fall-heavy. Warm-season: late spring through summer. Soil test every 3 years |
| How often should you aerate your lawn? | Every 1–3 years | Yearly for clay/high-traffic; every 2–3 years otherwise. Fall (cool-season) or late spring (warm-season) |
Twenty-six intervals, five cadences, one house: that's a lot of calendar math. OnOtto reminds you at the right interval, and won't let you snooze it into next year. Every task persists until it's done, and completing one schedules the next.
Put every interval on autopilot, free for 30 daysPrefer to work by season?
These same tasks, organized into printable seasonal work sessions: the complete home maintenance checklist splits 62 tasks across spring, summer, fall, and winter. For budget planning, the cost calculator prices your personal list.
Frequently asked questions
What home maintenance needs doing monthly vs yearly?
Monthly: test smoke detectors, check the HVAC filter (change at 30–90 days), glance at the water softener salt. Quarterly: test the sump pump. Twice a year: gutters, roof walkaround, detector batteries. Yearly: water heater flush, dryer vent, chimney inspection, garage door tune-up, refrigerator coils. Multi-year: septic pumping (3–5 yrs). The table above has every number with its caveats.
Why do maintenance intervals vary so much between sources?
Because the honest answer is usually a range that depends on your home: an HVAC filter is 30 days (fiberglass, pets) or 12 months (5-inch media); septic is 2 years (big family, small tank) or 5 (couple, big tank). Sources that give one number are averaging. Each deep-dive page here leads with the typical number, then gives the variables table so you can place your own home on it.
What’s the most commonly missed interval on this list?
The annual ones: dryer vent, water heater flush, chimney inspection. Monthly habits survive on rhythm and seasonal tasks get anchored to weather, but "once a year" has no natural trigger, which is why these tasks quietly stretch to two or three years. That failure mode, the snoozed reminder that never comes back, is exactly what OnOtto was built to end.