You’ve already sunk untold sums of money into making your home a great place to live so maintenance of your home should be a no-brainer. With this being said, many easily-treatable problems could have been prevented and helped you save thousands or even tens of thousands on extensive damages. In this piece, we’re going to give you the beginnings of a checklist to help prevent these damages to your house.
1. Periodically Checking For Termites
Nobody likes to think about termites because, frankly, they’re icky and the damage they can cause makes us plug our ears with our fingers and go to our happy place. As much as you’d prefer to not think about what damage they may be doing to your property, it pays to make it a regular home maintenance habit to check for any termites. We would rather not imagine our precious home investment being little chewed to pieces, but stopping them before they do too much damage can save thousands in exterminations and repairs. It may not be a bad idea to schedule a routine inspection with a termite professional.
2. Using Caulk To Seal Up Problem Areas
Not only is caulking up drafty window openings a great way to make your home more energy efficient but doing so can also reduce moisture damage within your home. Taking a walk around your house with a caulking gun to fill up problem areas fairly straightforward, doesn’t take a lot of time, and is a cheap preventative tip against mold.
3. Inspect Pipes & Plumbing
Whether it is a pipe getting slowly clogged or a bursting, plumbing issues can be a messy and expensive fix on any budget. Penciling in some time on your calendar semi-annually can be a great prevention against a disgusting and pricey call to the plumber. In the case of the plumbing of your home, you can’t afford to ignore the signs that you may be destined for a plumbing disaster.
4. Inspect & Test Sump Pumps
Typically found in basements and other high-humidity areas of houses, sump pumps are your first line of defense against flooding in your home and potential damage to your house. Make a point to periodically inspect and test your sump pump to make sure that it will be up to the task of protecting your investment when the time comes.
5. Clean Our Your Rain Gutters & Downspouts
If the gutters on your home or the downspouts running down your home become clogged, they’re not only rendered ineffective for properly draining rain from your roof, but can actually be damaged by debris buildup. Make it a seasonal point to clean debris out of your gutters for an easy drainage of water. Don’t forget to also check out your downspouts for clogging or you may wind up with an expensive mess on your hands down the road…perhaps literally.
6. Check Your Roof Before Problems Get Worse
“A roof over my head” is the common phraseology for being thankful for a home, but we typically don’t pay our roof much mind until it’s too late. With semi-annual roof inspections as well as roof inspections following severe weather can help us assess problem areas before they add up. Even just a small amount of damage to your roof can lead to extremely costly water damage to the rest of your home. Nip it in the bud with the occasional roof inspection.
These are just a few home maintenance tips for you. What home maintenance tips would you add to a home maintenance checklist for homeowners? Let us know!