The House Year

Morris County, New Jersey

October in Morris County

14 tasks for a typical local house (basement, gas furnace) ·adjust for yours

  1. Know your gas — the shutoff, the smell, the drill

    Natural gas comes with a built-in alarm — that rotten-egg smell is mercaptan, added on purpose because raw gas is odorless.

    $140–$315to hire out here

  2. Disconnect garden hoses before the first freeze

    With around 118 freeze days a year in Morris County, this is the highest-value ten minutes on your calendar.

    Scheduled ahead of Morris County's average first frost (10/24).

    $85–$175to hire out here

  3. Closing up a seasonal place

    A seasonal place spends the winter with no one to hear the drip, smell the mouse nest, or notice the furnace quit.

    Scheduled ahead of Morris County's average first frost (10/24).

    $290–$690to hire out here

  4. Pull the window AC units before it freezes

    If your house has no window units, skip this card without guilt — it exists for the houses that do.

    Scheduled ahead of Morris County's average first frost (10/24).

    $85–$175to hire out here

  5. Clean the basement window wells

    Your basement's most honest vulnerability isn't the walls — it's the handful of spots where a hole was cut below grade on purpose.

    $115–$290to hire out here

  6. Read your trees before winter does

    Trees fail on a schedule of their own, but they almost always send notice first — dead limbs, thinning crowns, fungus, a new lean.

    $175–$520to hire out here

  7. Hot tub quarterly care

    First, the honest gate: no hot tub, no task — skip this card and enjoy your quarter.

    $175–$400to hire out here

  8. Walk the perimeter like a mouse

    Pest control that works is mostly carpentry: animals and insects get in through openings, and the openings are findable.

    $145–$400to hire out here

  9. Service the humidifier (or dehumidifier)

    This card is for the machines that manage moisture on purpose: a whole-home humidifier bolted to the furnace ductwork (common in dry-winter country), or a dehumidifier working a basement or crawlspace (common in humid country).

    $105–$205to hire out here

  10. Flush your water heater

    Every water heater tank slowly collects sediment — minerals that drop out of the water and settle on the bottom.

    $140–$260to hire out here

  11. Replace your HVAC filter

    Every bit of air your system heats or cools passes through one filter.

    $85–$145to hire out here

  12. Clean the dishwasher filter

    Older dishwashers had hard food grinders.

    $115–$205to hire out here

  13. Thermostat batteries and schedule tune

    The thermostat is the only part of your HVAC system you actually talk to, and it gets less attention than the doormat.

    $105–$230to hire out here

  14. Flip your ceiling fans

    Ceiling fans don't cool air — they move it where it helps.

    $70–$140to hire out here

The rest of Morris County's year

Not from around here? The national October list casts a wider net.

Your county's checklist, one email a month. What's due, what it should cost, and a heads-up when the weather changes the plan. No drip campaigns — we don't have the patience for them either.

Close — but it's not your house yet.

This page plans for a typical local house. The app asks twelve questions about yours and rebuilds the year around the answers — your systems, your dates, your prices.

Build your house's yearGet the iPhone app

Free to start · the whole year is $24 · no card required