With home ownership comes great responsibility. If you want to live in a well-kept, efficient house that is. Home maintenance is really an endless task. So long as you’re still living in a house without a landlord, you’ll be the sole person responsible for everything from keeping the yard clean, to home repairs. Obviously some jobs are bigger than others and can require the help of professional handyman services. Here are some tips for tackling common issues you’re bound to face.
1.) Keep Gutters Clean: It’s one of the jobs that gets made fun of by sitcoms, but it’s an incredibly important aspect of home maintenance. Depending on the location and types of trees surrounding your house you may have to clean out your gutters four times a year. At least you should be cleaning out gutters twice, once at the beginning of the spring season and once before winter strikes.
2.) Roof Condition: Keeping track of the condition your roof is in can prevent more serious problems down the road. This is one of those jobs that should probably be left to the professionals. If your roof is showing signs of wear get someone to come give you an evaluation and estimate. About 80% of roofs are covered with asphalt tiles in the U.S. and sometimes you can get away with replacing a few loose ones. Other times a full replacement is required. If that’s the case make sure the company you hire to do it does it right. Some people will try to save time by placing a new roof right on top of the old. This decreases the longevity by up to 20%. Make sure it gets done right the first time and save yourself a premature headache.
3.) Insulation: Not the kind in your walls and attic that most people think about. Making sure your house is properly insulated in the both the wintertime when heat will be running, and summer when you’ll probably have the air conditioner going in at least a couple rooms is critical to saving energy and money. Windows should be properly sealed and locked. The cracks at the bottom of doors can be blocked with rolled up blanket/towels, and making sure rooms that are unused are sealed off from the rest of the house are all ways to save a little at a time.
Home maintenance is never much fun, but if you put it off and wait for things to go wrong you’ll wind up with much more stress in your life and much less money in your pocket.
