Getting Your East Texas Home Ready for Summer: The May Checklist

May is your last real window before East Texas summer turns brutal, and if you're sitting in Liberty County, Chambers County, or the Baytown-Crosby-Highlands corridor, you already know what's coming. The humidity that makes 95°F feel like 110°F. The afternoon thunderstorms that roll in off the Gulf and test every seam on your roof. The electric bills that make grown adults want to cry. Getting ahead of all that in May — before the heat locks in — is the difference between a comfortable summer and an expensive one.

Here's what to actually do this month, room by room and system by system.

Is My AC Ready for a Texas Summer?

Your air conditioner is not ready for summer just because it ran last September. Get a tune-up done now, in May, before every HVAC company in Harris County is booked three weeks out. That's not an exaggeration — by mid-June, Entergy Texas and CenterPoint service areas are both dealing with peak demand calls, and contractors can't keep up.

A proper AC tune-up runs $80 to $150 from a reputable company. What that buys you: a cleaned evaporator coil, checked refrigerant levels, tightened electrical connections, and a confirmed condensate drain that's actually draining. That last one matters more than people realize out here. East Texas humidity means your system pulls serious moisture out of the air, and a clogged drain line can dump water into your ceiling or walls before you ever notice.

A few things worth checking yourself before the tech arrives: replace your air filter if you haven't in the last 60 days, clear at least 2 feet of vegetation around your outdoor condenser unit, and make sure your thermostat is reading correctly. If your home has a smart thermostat — Nest, Ecobee, or similar — verify the schedule is set for summer hours, not whatever you had running in March.

Here's my opinion, plainly stated: any HVAC company that doesn't check your static pressure or airflow is not giving you a real tune-up. They're doing a visual pass and charging you for a tune-up. Ask them specifically what measurements they're taking.

ERCOT has been flagging grid stress warnings more frequently in recent summers. In August 2023, they issued multiple conservation notices. Your system running efficiently isn't just about comfort — it's about not drawing max load during periods when the grid is already strained.

What Should I Look for in My Attic Before Summer?

Check your attic in May, not August. By the time July hits, attic temps in East Texas homes regularly hit 140°F to 160°F — you won't want to be up there, and you won't be able to do useful work even if you try.

What you're looking for: insulation coverage, ventilation, and any signs of moisture or pest intrusion. Most East Texas homes built before 1990 have blown-in insulation that has settled over the years. The current recommended R-value for our climate zone (Zone 2, which covers most of Liberty and Chambers County) is R-38 to R-60. If you've got 4 inches of old fiberglass sitting on your attic floor, you're probably closer to R-13 — and you're paying for it every month on your electric bill.

Soffit vents and ridge vents matter too. A properly ventilated attic is supposed to move hot air out passively. If your soffit vents are blocked by old insulation — which happens constantly in homes where blown-in was added without baffles — your attic is holding heat that's radiating down into your living space and making your AC work harder than it needs to.

Look for any daylight coming through the roofline, any staining on the decking, and any sign of rodent activity. Rats and squirrels are not a small problem. A family of squirrels in your East Texas attic can chew through wiring, destroy insulation, and cost you $2,000 to $6,000 to remediate properly by the time you're done with pest control, repairs, and re-insulation.

Did Spring Storms Damage My Roof?

Spring in East Texas means hail, straight-line winds, and the occasional tornado warning in counties stretching from Liberty all the way up to Hardin. May is the month to get up on a ladder or call someone who will, because storm damage that goes undetected through summer can compound fast once you add months of heat expansion and contraction on compromised shingles.

You're looking for a few specific things. On asphalt shingles, hail damage shows up as dark circular bruising or granule loss — you'll often see granule buildup in your gutters after a storm. Missing or lifted shingles are obvious, but also check the flashing around your chimney, pipe boots, and any roof penetrations. That's where most leaks actually start.

I'll give you a straight opinion here: if you had any storm pass over your property between February and April that dropped hail larger than 1 inch, get a licensed roofing contractor out to look at it. Insurance adjusters in Harris County and Chambers County have seen everything, and they're not going to automatically approve a claim — but a properly documented inspection from a TDLR-licensed contractor carries weight. Don't let a storm chaser from out of state file your claim. Use someone local who will still be around if the work has problems.

For reference, a standard 30-year architectural shingle replacement in the Baytown to Crosby stretch runs $8,000 to $18,000 depending on square footage, pitch, and materials. Catching one lifted piece of flashing in May and spending $200 on a repair is obviously the better path.

How Do I Get My Irrigation System Ready for Summer?

Turn on your irrigation system in May, run every zone manually, and watch what actually happens. Don't just assume it worked fine because it ran last October. A surprising number of homeowners in the Highlands area have broken heads or damaged zones they've been watering around for months without realizing it.

Walk each zone while it runs. Look for heads that aren't popping up fully, sprays that are hitting the fence instead of the lawn, or any zone that's just not delivering water. Fix broken heads now — a quality Rain Bird or Hunter replacement head runs $8 to $20 at most supply houses, and a plumber or irrigation tech can replace a head for $50 to $100 labor. Waiting until July to discover a dead zone is an expensive mistake when you're trying to recover St. Augustine grass in a Liberty County summer.

Check your backflow preventer while you're at it. Texas state law requires backflow prevention on irrigation systems connected to municipal water. If yours hasn't been tested in more than a year, schedule that — it's typically $50 to $80 and the test is required in many jurisdictions. Your local water utility in Chambers County or the City of Baytown can tell you what's required in your specific area.

Set your controller for summer schedules before the heat hits. For St. Augustine — which is what most of us are growing out here — deep, infrequent watering beats daily shallow watering every time. Three days a week, longer run times, early morning. That's the approach.

What Outdoor Living Prep Actually Matters in May?

East Texas outdoor living runs from late September through May, and then most people retreat inside until October. That means May is your send-off month — get your outdoor spaces ready now, use them for a few weeks before the heat makes it impossible, and set everything up to survive the summer sitting idle.

Start with your deck or porch structure. If you've got a wood deck, probe around the ledger board, posts, and any ground-contact areas with a screwdriver. Wood that lets the screwdriver push in without real resistance has rot you need to deal with before it becomes a structural issue. A pressure-treated 6x6 post replacement runs $60 to $100 in materials, but if the rot has spread to the beam, you're looking at a much bigger project.

Clean and treat your deck surface now. A quality deck cleaner followed by a penetrating oil or solid stain will protect wood through the brutal UV exposure of a Chambers County summer. Olympic Maximum or Defy Extreme are solid products that hold up in high-humidity climates. Budget $80 to $150 in materials for a standard 400-square-foot deck.

Check your outdoor fans — on covered patios and porches, these work hard in humid air and the motors attract dust and moisture. Clean the blades, check that the mount is tight, and make sure the reversing switch is set for summer (counterclockwise blade rotation pushes air straight down). It's a small thing that makes a real difference.

Outdoor kitchens and grills deserve attention too. Burners clog over winter. Grease traps fill up. Propane connections should be checked for leaks with soapy water before you fire the grill up for the first time. If you've got a built-in refrigerator in your outdoor kitchen, clean the condenser coils — they're usually at the bottom and they get gunked up fast in outdoor conditions.

Furniture cushions stored over winter may have mildew. Check them now before you haul everything out for the season. If you're replacing outdoor fabric, look for solution-dyed acrylic like Sunbrella — it holds color and resists mildew better than almost anything else in humid climates.

What Plumbing Issues Should I Check in May?

Two specific things to check this month: hose bibs and water heaters.

Every exterior hose bib on your property should be turned on and inspected for leaks at the connection point. Winter doesn't freeze us out much in Baytown or Crosby, but temperature swings still stress fittings over time. A slow drip at a hose bib wastes hundreds of gallons a month and is usually a $30 fix.

Water heaters are worth looking at in May because summer demand on your plumbing overall goes up — irrigation systems, more showers, more outdoor use. Sediment buildup in tank-style heaters is a real issue in areas with harder water. If your water heater is more than 8 years old, check the anode rod and flush sediment from the tank. If you're not comfortable doing that, a plumber can do it for $100 to $150 and it extends the life of the unit significantly. The average tank water heater replacement in Harris County runs $900 to $1,800 installed.

Tankless water heaters need descaling in our area — East Texas municipal water has enough mineral content to build up inside the heat exchanger over 12 to 18 months. Most manufacturers require annual descaling to keep the warranty valid. If yours hasn't been serviced, May is a good time to get that scheduled.

May gives you a real advantage in East Texas. The weather is still workable, contractors aren't yet slammed with emergency calls, and everything you find and fix now costs less than it will in August. Run this list over the next few weekends and your summer will be considerably smoother — and your electric bill won't be quite the gut punch it could otherwise be.

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