For most of the country, autumn is right around the corner. The nights are getting longer, the days are cooling down, and the colors are changing, and while a lot of you are reading these descriptions and thinking it means you need to prepare for fall decorations, there’s a lot of steps that warehouses can take to help cut down on needed maintenance through the cooler months.

While regular warehouse maintenance is always a good call throughout the year, there’s a few steps you can take when fall approaches to make sure your staff, your warehouse, and your equipment are ready for the changing weather. Here’s our four favorite fast autumn warehouse maintenance tips for warehouses of any size or configuration:

Look for exterior or interior damage

Once the weather starts taking a turn for the cooler, the last thing you need is for cracks in the walls to start letting the cold air back in, leading to increased utility bills and potential damage from exposure to the elements. Take time to survey the major areas of your warehouse and see if anything has been damaged to the point where it needs to be repaired or patched up; things like corners, high roofs, doors in frequently-used areas, and similar places around the warehouse are subject to wear and decay due to external conditions and may need to be repaired while the weather is still nice.

Replace your weatherproofing

Unless your warehouse operates out of a particularly rainy area (or you’re so far north you don’t get much of a summer, period), you probably haven’t had to think about your weatherstripping too much over the last few months, but now’s a good time to get that changed. Review your more frequently-used doors (entryways, loading docks, and shipping/receiving areas) to make sure they’re all sealed and weatherstripped appropriately to keep the elements out. This will go a long way towards preventing damage to your inventory and warehouse, as well as keeping your utility bills in check by not making your thermostat work overtime.

Relocate your shelves

For the majority of industries in America today, the changing seasons means that the holidays are right around the corner, and with that comes the old familiar increase in business. While you’ll have plenty of time as the busy winter months edge ever closer, now might be a good time to do some early preparation, such as reviewing the placement of your warehouse shelves. Are your pallet racks clear of obstructions? Should anything be moved closer to the loading docks to help get inbound packages ready more easily? Do your gravity conveyors need maintenance? Asking these questions now will help save a lot of time (and prevent headaches) when the rush starts.

Check your vents and heaters

Even if the AC has been running all summer (and if your summer has been anything like it has been up here, it’s been worked half to death), you’re going to want to make sure your heater and all related vents are clear of any obstructions and ready to work during the cooler months. Clean out any vents to prevent a buildup of dust, relocate your shelving and inventory as needed to make sure nothing is blocking the vents, and when the weather starts to get cooler at night try a few ‘test runs’ of your heater to make sure everything fires up as needed.