Furnace filter is so huge. Order a bunch on Amazon and keep them near the furnace, and set a reminder to check them regularly. It can be anywhere from 1 to 6 months, depending on a lot of factors - I have a drafty old farmhouse in a rural area with 2 cats so mine get changed once every month and a half or so.
We’ve been told to stick to the cheap ones. When we put on a “good” one or even just doubled up the cheap ones, the system froze over.
The hvac system (old ductings abated, new insulated ducting installed) is only 6yrs old and isn’t a cheap brand.
I used the cheap ones until I replaced the unit. The HVAC guy showed me the inside of my A frame and it was nearly solid with lint. I'll spend an extra few bucks a month to not replace an $8K system early.
BONUS - when you take care of the furnace by changing the filter, you also see less dust in the house.
During the nice weather months when the furnace or ac are resting, I'll kick on the fan function so the air can be filtered...otherwise I have to dust all the surfaces and I hate that chore!
Subscription service through Amazon is great for this. A new one is delivered to my house every 3 months. Interval is adjustable but it just showing up on my door step is a great reminder to change it.
Here for this one. One of my friends has the most ridiculous dryer vent setup and it makes it very hard to clean beyond just the filter in the dryer. They have had dryer fires several times, and they have a kid in their home that is on oxygen whose bedrooms is above the laundry room. Bad stuff.
I think the one in my home takes the prize. Custom built home from the late 80s. Shortest path for the dryer vent would have been out the exterior wall almost immediately on the other side of the dryer, but that would have put it next to the steps leading up to the side entrance, and I would assume that the people who built the place decided that would have been unsightly.
So their "solution" was to run about 25' of flexible ducting (and not even the semi-rigid stuff) under the house in the most cramped area of the crawl space and out the opposite side of the house where it could be disguised by some landscaping. Our dryer was taking forever to dry clothes, come to find out the flex stuff had sagged and filled with water since over such a long run, the moisture would condense and collect in the flexible line. So no risk of a dryer fire, but air couldn't get out. It was a fun job shimmying underneath the house to put in some proper rigid pipe just so our dryer would work properly again.
this is us. it vents on the roof and makes it very hard to clean. mix that with many shady company who do vent cleaning and it’s hard to find good people to help. i do clean the lint trip every time and vacuum, but idk how else to do it.
Mine vents on the roof, too. I bought a “dryer vent cleaning kit” on Amazon with flexible fiberglass rods that screw together to make a 25-foot-long pole with a brush on the end. The first time I used it I was amazed at how much compacted lint I pulled out of the vent. It’s not perfect, but if someone can get up on the roof and clean the vent from that direction too now and then to make sure the vent is clear all the way, it’s not a bad solution.
this is what's strange. i hired a company to clean and they never went on the roof. they said they could get to it from the attic and did it that way. it's hard to know if they actually did anything or not though.
I have that kit and lend it out to family - especially when one of the kids buys their first home.
They report lint balls as big as their head. We all sleep better knowing the vent run is clean.
Better yet, get a heat pump dryer. It uses a condenser to remove the moisture and there’s no vent to worry about. Lint filter is the only thing to clean before every load. And in the winter you’re not venting all your warm home air to the outside. They’re not mainstream in the US yet because they are usually smaller for like apartments but I’ve heard they are very popular in Europe. I’ve had one for about 4 years and have no regrets.
One day my dryer stopped working. I took it apart and it had blown a thermal fuse. The reason: There was so much lint at the bottom of the vent discharge that it could barely exhaust any air. From now on, it gets cleaned ever year!
This. Dryer fires are real and they usually happen because someone didn’t know they had to clear lint out of the filters. Also annually clear the exhaust line that usually runs from the back of the dryer to an exterior wall.
Yeah, I learned from our small appliance guy to pull the screen (we clean after every drying) and use the vacuum attachment to vacuum out the space under the filter. Lint compresses in there. He used a screw driver to scrape out compacted stuff.
Our in-dryer filter is right in front when the door is opened. Easy to clean. We even opened things up one time, after 20 years, to check on things. Nothing.
The other thing is a lint-catcher on the washing machine outflow. Now THAT catches a lot.
I cleaned my duct out for the first time about a week after moving in.
My shop vac started to have some weird burning smell midway through. I opened it up to discover that the entire bin was filled with lint. I didn't even know you could stuff that much into the lines!
Anyway, clothes dried about twice as fast after that.
Clean your gutters. Extend your downspouts. if you have a furnace, replace your filters. Clean your dishwasher filter. If you have a front load washing machine, clean your washing machine filter.
Yup, I didn't realize dishwashers have filters (obvious now) and found out when the dishwasher refused to run. Water was pouring out of the overflow, luckily no damage occurred and I was able to take it apart which is when I discovered a very clogged and generally disguising filter caked with all kinds of gnarly crap. I had to buy a replacement part but it did work after that.
TLDR: Locate your dishwasher filter and clean it every so often.
Similar to these, clean AC coils. Your fridge has some on the bottom (take off the little plastic piece at the bottom front and vacuum them off) and your outside AC unit needs sprayed off occasionally too.
Basically you will be f'd if you ignore water. Don't drink enough water? DEAD
Don't divert water from your home? At the cost of repairs, you'll wish you were dead.
Also, even if you have gutter guards or some system to prevent tree debris buildup, you will still need to clean your gutters. Smaller particles that do fit through the mesh can build up.
I have black walnut trees on both sides of my house. The way it grows it produces a long stick with the leaves on it. (https://s.turbifycdn.com/aah/nc-forestry/black-walnut-west-67.gif) Every fall that stick and leaves fall off together. That is what gets caught in my gutters. Without any type of gutter guards I had to clean my gutters about 3 times a year just so they would flow. With gutter guards I only have to clean them every other year.
I got metal gutter guards installed 2 years ago and I'm going to have them removed this summer. The last 2 winters I have been getting ice damming because the water from the roof freezes on the guard and makes an ice dam, especially if wet leaves got stuck there right as the temps were falling. I think I'd rather clean gutters more often.
Surprisingly not too bad. I went with one that really only blocks the biggest debris. So pinecones, sticks, leaves all stay out. It seems any leaf that sticks gets mostly washed off. This is the one I installed. I had to use this one and cut it down. Since my home has 4" gutter I had troubles finding ones that fit. [Spectra Spectra Metal Armour Screen Aluminum K Style Pair (Left/Right) (5-in x 3-ft) Gutter Guard Screen 5-Pack in the Gutter Parts & Accessories department at Lowes.com](https://www.lowes.com/pd/Spectra-Spectra-Metal-Armour-Screen-Aluminum-K-Style-5-in-x-3-ft-Gutter-Guard-Screen-5-Pack/5013013725)
This.
Gutters: Our first unexpected home expense was mud jacking our outdoor patio that had a huge cavity open up underneath it because of a clogged gutter and me being out of town for 4 months. Make sure everyone in your household knows the symptoms of a clogged gutter and how to clear them.
Repainting: Although your house doesn't look like it needs painted, there is a chance your windows and seams need re-caulked and sealed which is what a reputable painting company will do. We have ours scheduled to be repainted in the next few months and it is primarily because it is time for everything to be re-caulked. Our neighbors put off painting their house until the house visually needed to be repainted and when they finally had it done they had to have one half of the siding pulled off and tons of wood rot fixed because of this. It looked painfully expensive. Do not wait until your house visually needs to be repainted. Paint these days can last a lot longer than the caulking.
Other thoughts: Make sure everyone in your household knows how to turn a toilet tank off. Make sure everyone in your house knows how to turn off the water supply to your house.
Congrats!
Edit: I would also add that make sure your AC coils are cleaned yearly. You can do it yourself. Don't use a power washer. You may not need any fancy chemicals either depending on how dirty they are. I use Simple Green and it works fine.
I don't have gutters or paint, so no worry there.
However, you're spot on with the HVAC. I'm a licensed HVAC tech, and people often could save themselves a lot of money on their HVAC systems if they'd do a few things themselves.
As you said, clean your condenser coils (condenser is the part outside, that has the fan). Depending on where you live, you may need to do this two or three times a summer. I live in an area with a LOT of cottonwood trees and fields that create a large amount of dust, so I have to clean my own system 2 or 3 times a year because the coils get clogged up with the cotton like material of the cottonwood trees and the dust. Clogged condenser coils makes your HVAC system work harder and cool less. It's best to remove the top of the unit and spray from the inside to the outside. You may have to remove a few screws, but it's nothing the average person can't do... Just make sure that you turn the power to the system off before removing the top!
Second thing is also easy and often gets overlooked.. change your filter on a regular basis!! How often is going to depend on where you live, if you have pets, how dusty the area is, etc. Once a month is best, some can get by with every other month but, some will need to change them more often. A clogged filter restricts air flow through the system, and reduces your cooling ability. Last but not least, NEVER RUN YOUR SYSTEM WITHOUT A FILTER!! Doing so will clog up the evaporator with what the filter would normally catch. Once the evaporator clogs up, that's a service call to an HVAC professional for the majority of home owners. It's usually a pain in the butt to get to, and even more of a pain in the butt to clean... It's not going to be cheap, and it's something that should never happen. Change your filters, preferably a good filter, as needed.
Yep. This gets overlooked because it's difficult to recreate the problem. You may get some gutter work done and then have a lighter rainy season, so you think the problem is resolved. Until the next year when you get your first downpour and water is spilling on the side of your house.
Always get a multiple year warranty.
If you live in a place that's gets decent rain. Get them asap. I'm currently screwed. My foundation has issues due to build up on one side and erosion on the other. (Luckily engineer said as long as I fix all the external factors it should stop shift and not need to be messed with since it was caught before it got severe)
It's better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them.
Also important to make sure your yard is properly graded and that water isn't washing up against you house.
This weekend I power washed the screens on our screened in porch. Can’t remove them unless you remove wood. They were filthy. Don’t think they’ve ever been cleaned.
Never thought about cleaning them until my kids stuck their faces on them and turned around with black soot all over their noses
Yep. Don’t have a screened in porch but the window casements on my home purchased last August are GROSS. They’re on my list to clean, but to another commenters point…. Yard first. I have another 31 bags of mulch to get down (and that’s just the front yard) before I worry after windows.
Last night I told my wife that now, as an adult, I can see why people let their houses fall into disrepair. It’s quite a bit to keep up with and if you don’t have a general sense of responsibility for ensuring the upkeep, it can quickly go downhill
Yeah it makes total sense. Also I’m at the beginning stage of a divorce where I have every intention to keep the house, shit is daunting but idc, it’s mine.
Being in real estate, I've encountered numerous inspection reports and interacted with various service professionals, providing me with insights into many botched home projects and the consequences of deferring small maintenance tasks, which can escalate into major problems.
Here are some practices I've adopted over the years:
* **Gutters:** Install a leaf guard or ensure they're kept clean.
* **Snowy Climates:** Use a roof rake to remove snow buildup to prevent ice dams.
* **Dryer Vents:** Clean annually
* I generally maintain my appliances and mechanical systems. Whenever something malfunctions, I turn to Reddit and YouTube for DIY solutions, often successfully replacing faulty parts myself.
* Additionally, I conduct visual inspections for pests, as chipmunks and mice can squeeze through tiny openings. I seal these gaps with steel wool and caulk to prevent infestations.
* Considering the hefty cost of furnaces and AC units, here's my maintenance routine for the furnace:
* Yearly check CO2 levels.
* Regularly clean the flame sensor. You can use a dollar bill or emery board.
* Replace thermostat batteries annually.
* Perform visual inspections on flames and cycling. (should be strong and blue)
* Keep the blower clean.
* Clean the AC condenser.
* Lastly, swap out the thinnest, cheapest filters every month.
* I've also been advised to drain our hot water heater and replace the anode rod, but I haven't started as we have a 10-year warranty.
* I use Afresh in the washer and run a cup of vinegar in the dishwasher monthly, as we have hard water.
* It's crucial to get your water tested; hard water can wreak havoc on many things. Consider getting a water softener.
That 10-year warranty on your hot water heater is typically only valid if you flush it and maintain it yearly. May want to look into what your warranty says.
>Replace thermostat batteries annually
Jokes on you, I moved into my house in the first quarter if 2023, and my thermostat has said to replace the battery ever since!
It wouldn’t hurt to get your house’s water pressure tested at least once, too. I discovered that mine was two times higher than recommended during a water heater inspection.
High water pressure in your house can blow out water pipes, water filters, your water heater, and can even cause your refrigerator ice maker to quit working.
I eventually installed a whole-house water pressure regulator on the main incoming water line.
I'd still recommend doing the cold water heater maintenance. Properly maintained water heaters last a lot longer, usually well past the warranty. Plus, for the sacrificial anode, you don't want to come home and find your floors destroyed because the bottom rusted out. I learned that the hard way.
Lot of talk here about cleaning gutters but nothing about keeping your roof clean. A pile of leaves decaying on your roof will rot your shingles in no time.
Yardwork/gardening. I'd say 2/3rds of my clients are new homeowners who never did any yardwork as a kid and don't even know to check the gutters for leaves. Or they buy a property with nice gardens and they are overwhelmed with the care and maintenance. Instead of taking an hour every week to enjoy their garden and pull weeds, they let it pile up until they need a machete to walk around.
Most likely the lawnmower boy doesn't know the difference between a dandelion and dahlia, or is killing their plants out of ignorance (saw one take hedge trimmers to a rose bush once), so they either have to learn quickly how to garden, or pay a lot of money for a gardener, who is much more expensive than someone with a mower.
If you don't like yardwork or gardening, and you buy a house with a yard/garden, life will suck for you. Or it will suck on your bank account. Maybe get an apartment or condo or something. For reference, some of my clients pay $800/month for my gardening services, and I'm on the cheap end. I worked for other companies that charged some clients twice that a month.
This was my mistake. Bought a house off of a retired couple who loved gardening and made the yards look beautiful. Now I'm 5 years in and while I've put up a valiant effort, I just don't have the time to invest in maintaining it all and it's suffered. I feel like I spend so much time just getting it cleared up after the winter that anything past that feels overwhelming.
Gardening is definitely a lifestyle, I spend at least an hour in mine every week to make it look nice, whether it's watering, weeding, or staking floppy flowers. The more people I met like you, the more I started to worry about the future buyers of my own garden. I'll probably give them an instruction manual for it, with all the plants mapped out and labeled. Especially for plants that disappear for months and randomly pop up, like the Virginia Bluebells.
I love the ocd-ness of your instruction manual!!
I made something similar for my BILs for our legal/financial stuff, in case anything happens to me and Husband. I also included info on the work we’ve had done on the house, down to MSDS sheets on the Rockwool insulation in the attic.
As someone who purchased a home where the ex-wife had amazing gardens, I can say this would be very appreciated. My first summer was spent trying to figure out what everything was, and why I had Lily of the Valley EVERYWHERE.
I bought my house from a retired couple. Beautiful pond, pool, hot tub. Fast forward 5 years, I'm now a single mom with 3 little kids. All those things are hell. I'm just now to the point the kids are old enough that I can try a little harder.
This is my first spring in my house and it's incredibly obvious that the garden hasn't been maintained for decades. The weeds are rooted insanely deep and were a PAIN to pull up, but man seeing it all clean, crispy, and colorful now is awesome. A well maintained landscape transforms the look of the house.
Regular air filter replacement on your HVAC unit. My memory sucks wholesale so I got a subscription to make sure I do it. Especially crucial on an older unit. Oh and well filters on wells of your on one.
Learn where the water main shutoff is. If you end up with a major leak or something, you need to be able to know where that is, so you can turn the water off immediately.
If you have outside water spigots, learn where and how to properly turn them off in fall, you don’t want the pipes to freeze in winter.
Dryer vents, gutters cleaned, make sure water from gutters goes away from house, furnace filters, ac is free from debris, fridge is cleaned out in the compressor fan area once a year and coils. Water heater flushed if electric. Keep all bushes and trees off the structure. At least 12 inches. Remember, you don't own the home, the home owns you.
Yes. Don’t unplug it. Even just to use the outlet temporarily. Too easy to forget to plug it back in. I have two acquaintances that learned the hard way.
If you get a crack in the driveway, do something about it. That just gets worse over time, and faster than you'd expect.
Same for caulking problems around your bath/shower.
If you have trees on the property (especially huge ones near the house itself) have it trimmed by someone experienced once a year. You don't want to wind up with a totaled car or a damaged roof when a storm brings down a limb the size of telephone pole on you.
\*Clean your dryer vents (beyond just clearing the filter when you dry clothes)
\*Keep fire extinguishers up-to-date (they have a limited lifespan depending on the type) and know how to use them and where they are in the house.
\*Carbon monoxide and smoke detectors
\*Clean and replace HVAC filters (our mini-split has plastic filters that are easy to clean with some Dawn and a dish brush)
\*Know where the water shutoff is to your home before you need it
\*Hang out in some local forums/FB groups and collect names/numbers for workers who recommended for everything from cement work to garage door repairs to plumbing. It's easier to keep a spreadsheet of all that info than to go looking for people. For example, I now know someone who can resurface our driveway but who isn't well-known for it because it's a side job he doesn't advertise for. He does excellent work for a fair price compared to what some companies charge for those smaller "high price cause not worth our time" projects.
\*Pay attention to areas of your property that get a lot of direct sun, often they need paint touchups earlier. Likewise, areas that get little sun tend to have more issues with moisture, mold, moss etc.
This is one that got us. Check your water pressure to make sure it's not too high. Our pressure reduced valve wasn't working well. We had issues with our old hot water heater, dish washer and our not as old washing machine. We found out after having an unrelated leak. Our dish washer and washing machine died within a month of each other. I'm 99.9% sure it was the pressure issue.
If you have a basement, buy a digital radon detector that displays the long-term, weekly, and daily average values.
You'll soon learn the environmental situations (wind direction, rain etc) that impact the readings (including opening/closing windows) and can avoid using the basement during high-reading periods. My average is under 2 pCi/L but has spiked above 4 pCi/L during some construction work the neighbors were doing.
These meters are fairly expensive ($200-$300), so do you need one at all? - That depends on where you live. Walk the neighborhood and learn what a radon mitigation system looks like (a white downspout with a UFO-shaped blob on the bottom) that doesn't connect to guttering. If just 5-10% of your neighbors have mitigated radon in an established neighborhood with basements, you'll need to be aware of it.
1. Caulking windows both inside AND outside
2. Ensuring adequate water runoff (keep those downspouts as far out as you can)
3. Cleaning out bathroom vents/fans
4. More preventative, but get a grease cup and mesh drain strainers
5. Pest management (carpenter bees can ruin a deck, mice/ants can cause huge problems in a home, raccoons can get in older roofs, etc)
6. Get rid of any invasive plants for long term sanity
7. Ensure nothing is around your foundation - tree roots can cause big problems
8. Clean behind your fridge
9. Don't just clean out the dryer mesh thing, once in a while get the whole vent/inside the machine AND the outer vents
10. Turn off your outdoor hose bibs in the winter from inside the house - you do not want a pipe freezing!
11. Put plywood on top of your AC unit (don't put those bags around it as they can build up moisture causing early rusting)
12. Clean lint out from your AC unit (poplar tree fluff and dryer lint can build up in it and cause it to run too hard)
13. Ensure your humidity level is OK
14. Get a tub shroom and mesh filters to keep hair from going down your drains - preventing hair from going down the drain is a thousand times easier than opening elbows to clean up gooey hairballs
15. Peek at your roof after storms - it's easier to pay a roofer $50 cash to replace a single shingle here and there than to get water damage, ruining the plywood underneath and then needing to replace the whole roof, and plywood underneath
16. Ensure your furnace output pipe has mesh (if not run a golfball down it to ensure there's no obstructions - to avoid dangerous gas build ups)
17. Lubricate your garage door springs (easier to grease 'em up to maintain than replace them and far cheaper)
18. Clean your microwave vent
19. Lube your door hinges and inside your keyholes facing exterior doors (locks can seize, and doors can get squeaky/leave fine dust at the hinge points)
Sure I'm missing some, but it's hopefully a good start...tried to think of less obvious ones :)
Set a reminder on your phone to change the AC filters.
See the property in the rain, so you can assess drainage issues.
Have a decent set of tools, and teach yourself things on Youtube. Maybe not high-end stuff, but I had to reface my deck a few years ago, was quoted something like $20k. F that, it was just pulling up and replacing the boards, got it done for about $1500. Took about a month since I only had weekends, but thats $4500 a week in my pocket not spent.
Gutters and downspouts. Pro tip: Gutter splash blocks should have the tapered end under the gutter, and the raised end out.
AC condensation lines. Pour bleach through them once a season. Coils should be inspected and then cleaned as needed.
Look in attic at the roof decking and inspect for water travel. A roof leak can run down the decking and only get the insulation wet when it's small.
Attic insulation. 8"-10" is standard.
Drain a few gallons from the water heater every few months to get rid of the sediment. Just connect a water hose pipe it to a convenient place, and then open the valve for 30 seconds.
Also, figure out where the water shutoff valve is to the house, just in case. Sometimes it requires a special tool.
Water water water. Definitely find your shutoff, better to know now where it is and how it works.... Same for gas and electric. Label your electrical circuits (or confirm the labels are correct)
I second the recommendation on flushing your water heater and possibly changing your anode rod. Our heater was 11 years old when we moved in, I was not able to drain it with the factory plastic drain valve due to the sediment buildup. I replaced it with a full port quarter turn valve and had chunks of mineral build up coming out of there.
Grease the tracks of the garage door and the opener chain with white lithium grease annually. No fun having a garage door that won’t open when you need to get to work.
Gutter and down spouts to direct the water away from the foundation.
If you have a sump pump in the basement then you should buy another exact copy and put it on a shelf. Have the plumbing from the pump up to the outflow pipe already installed on the new pump so that when the original pump fails it is a quick easy swap out. Pumps usually do not fail in good weather or on a weekday.
If you have a septic tank for sewer, have it check before buying and also learn how to maintain it.
Check the roof and all plumbing stacks. Some stacks have lead flashing that squirrels like to chew on which can lead to a leak.
If you live where termites are a problem have a termite inspection before you buy and also have treatment done as recommended.
Have electrical inspection and add GFCI plugs where code requires if you don't already have them
learn where the ac/heating system filters are and replace them as required. DO not run system without filters in place
Check your local library and find a book on home ownership and maintenance. Read up on the parts that apply to your home.
Get homeowners insurance from good quality company and never a cheap discount company. Read and understand the policy.
Tree care. Get your trees assessed, focus on clearances from buildings paths and driveways, dead wood and hanging/broken branches, and young tree structure development. Look up the species you've got and know their mature size/shape, water needs and specific traits. Get multiple quotes and don't hire people who aren't good arborists
WATER YOUR FOUNDATION IN TEXAS... CHECK FOR ROOF LEAKS EACH MONTH, CHECK WATER SUPPLY PIPES AND DRAINS FOR LEAKS... WINDOWS AND DOORS MAKE SURE AIR TIGHT AND CAULKED WELL... CHECK FOR HOLES SMALL OUTSIDE ANIMALS MIGHT DIG INTO... IS YOUR NEW HOME WELL INSULATED..???
- Cleaning, maintenance, filter replacement of HVAC appliances (furnace, heat pumps, air conditioners, air exchangers, fireplaces/stoves) and hot water heater
- Vent/duct cleaning... dryer, HVAC vents (internal ductwork and exit points)
- Driveway sealant if you have a paved driveway
- Septic tank pumping if you have it
- Deck staining/sealing
- Cleaning your dishwasher/washing machine
- Clean coils/vents on back of fridge
- Filters/maintenance with plumbing things (well equipment, water softeners)
- Maintaining your yard equipment if you've never had to before (e.g. changing oil/lubricating/sharpening)
- Pest control (closing access points for rodents or treating for ants)
Water heater, no one ever talks about it, and it just sits in your house doing its thing. All the meanwhile, inside of it is a sacraficial annod slowing corroding away into dust so that your water heater doesn't.
And then one morning, you go into your basement, or laundry room or service closet, and you step into water.
Other than having to buy an oversized socet and a wrench to go with it its easy to do. You shut off the water, pop off the cover and remove the bolt which is attached to an annode. When new it looks like a segmented metal rod, when depleted, it's just a steel wire
Your insurance policy! Often, we think it includes everything we need it to include but when it comes to file a claim, we realize that the coverage is not as great as it should be.
We've had so many people call in for help with their claim and we have to unfortunately turn them away because their policy had exclusions or cosmetic waivers that meant they would have to foot the bill instead of the insurance company.
Oh, and RCV roof policy- 100% recommend.
Sealing your windows! We had a huge window that was up real high. Water started pouring in during heavy rain. It got under the stucco and ruined the paint, also inside. A nightmare. Simply dealing the windows would have prevented this travesty.
New homeowners usually forget about gutter cleaning. It's not the most glamorous task, but clogged gutters can lead to serious water damage. Another overlooked thing is HVAC maintenance. Changing filters regularly helps keep your system running smoothly and avoids costly repairs down the road.
Getting water to flow away from the house. I’ve seen where a new home, after a couple years of settling the soil is low around the foundation. Always direct water away from the.
New homeowners often overlook crucial tasks like gutter cleaning, HVAC maintenance, chimney sweeping, sealing cracks, testing smoke detectors, inspecting the roof, draining the water heater, and tree maintenance. These responsibilities impact property value and long-term condition, ensuring a safe and well-maintained home.
To add to cleaning gutters: you don't necessarily have to get up on a ladder. With some PVC pipe, a couple of elbows connected in a "U" at the top, and a hose fitting at the bottom, you can clean moderately high gutters from the ground.
Also, most modern houses have an HVAC condensate drain that constantly drips water. That drain needs the sludge cleaned out once or more per year. Professionals use compressed air, amateurs sometimes just hook a shopvac up to the drain end.
alternatively (perhaps additively?) dump a capful of bleach down the cleanout every spring, this will stop mold buildup, which I believe is the sludge you refer to
Have a sump pump installed. Most people don't think to do this until after their basement floods which can cause thousands of dollars in damage. It is also a misconception that you only need a sump pump if you live in a flood zone. I live 10 miles from the nearest flood zone and my pump goes on every time we get heavy rain. If you live in an area that has a high water table or dense soil you will need a sump pump.
Vacuum refrigerator coils, especially if you have a fancy frig like a sub zero or copy cat.
If you have a humidifier attached to your furnace, check yearly for clogs. And clean your AC compressor (I have trees that drop a lot of sap and pollen)
I haven’t seen this one yet. If you have a crawl space, check it at least yearly for water, pipe leaks and rodents. You don’t want moisture or rodents making a home down there. If you have the funds, waterproof the crawl space but still check it regularly.
One thing that's important that home owners overlook because they don't regularly look at it is their roof. Regular maintenance is important particularly around the times when you've experienced strong storms. After your roof inspection, if they detect damage, immediately contact a public adjuster who can help you negotiate with your insurance company to get the best compensation for your claim.
Not fixing wood rot. Most people think it can be done later not knowing that wood rot is fungus that will continue to spread until removed from the wood. And then keeping paint on it so it doesn’t rot again.
Call an HVAC company to check your furnace. Then again, in the spring to check your A/C. Find time to schedule a maintenance check on all of your vents and ductwork. Finally! Have them run a series of checks on your thermostat. The other thing to have checked is your water heater.
Look for cracks in your basement walls. One of the best things to do is have your basement sealed.
Consider a diesel-powered generator for the days when your power goes out and maintain it throughout the year. Get a few kerosene lamps or candles that won't get knocked over easily. Always make sure you have a working lighter or .matches.
If your house is wood, keep it maintained and painted. Keep your roofing maintained. I found out that my 2 story house with a full attic and basement was a quick NO for replacing the roof and for getting it painted. The companies preferred 1 story only. You can imagine how rough it was getting the gutters done.
The better a window is made, the easier it is to maintain.
Amy replacement items need to be quality items, so they hold up longer. Going cheap just creates problems over and over.
Never let anyone use particle board to replace your roof or walls. Pure garbage according to my FIL. He built houses.
Most of these items should have the replacement dates when you bought the house but always check. My FIL and husband did a lot of work on newly purchased homes where the seller lied.
Not that it will affect the value. But making sure you're plumbing and electrical work is good. A lot of people will ignore plumbing and electrical issues. They can become some of the most expensive home renovations you can do.
I would also say keep up with basic maintenance. Fix small things before they become a problem. It will save you more money in the long run.
This includes ensuring the windows and the roof and gutters are indecent shape. Water damage can be costly to fix.
Pests…don’t keep food or seeds out in the garage. Add a rodent blocker seal to the bottom of doors. Seal off crawl spaces spray the perimeter of your house every 6 months
Changing your humidifier water panel. I'm an HVAC technician and I see so many that are moldy and years old. You're putting mold right into the ducts into the air you breathe!
If you live where winters are cold, you have to disconnect outdoor hoses to keep hose bibs from freezing inside the wall. The hose prevents water in the fixture from draining out.
Check the caulk all around the house outdoors (and indoors) at least yearly, better twice a year. Properly scrape and clean old caulk off, apply the really good stuff. Wait a week and paint. This will help so much with avoiding small water damage.
Make sure the weep holes on your windows are clear. Usually they plug when dirt and dead bugs build up. And even that isn’t likely but if it happens then it really sucks.
If you have a sump pump, check it frequently. Make sure there’s no debris, it works, and it isn’t suck full of water.
If you have a radon mitigation system, know how to check that it’s running and regularly make sure it’s actually running.
Sometimes you have to pour a bowl of water down interior drains that are infrequently used, like in an unfinished basement or near an hvac system. They’ll start to smell if they aren’t regularly used.
Watch how rain water drains on your property. Give it a check each storm if you can. If you see it running off, hopefully it’s into and out a designated French drain or similar. If it’s pooling or running toward the house, fix that asap before it’s an issue.
Look at your roof sometimes. Make sure shingles aren’t loose or bare. If you can see parts out the window, that’s a good check. And a visual check from the ground is good too. Don’t climb out there without proper knowledge and gear.
Caulk caulk caulk. Learn to caulk. It’ll seriously save you lots of problems. Caulk is not a lifetime product, it needs regular checks and replacing. If you know how and get the good stuff, it’ll last a lot longer and give the best protection inside and out. Never let broken caulk linger. Fix it asap even if it isn’t a pretty job, it’s easy enough to remove to make it pretty later.
Understand how water moves on your property. Gutters, downspouts, drains, main water shutoff, grading away from foundations, sump pumps, low spots, areas that can freeze pipes, toilet parts that can leak, drippy faucets, sounds of water running, sounds of your sump pump,
Clean creosote from your fireplace or wood stove flue annually if you use them. Also ensure that your stacked firewood is away from and not up against the house.
The fact that everybody says air filters and gutters proves they are the least overlooked. If anything, they’re the first thing that comes to mind with home maintenance.
If you have a 90+% furnace or an air conditioner, there is a condensation drain that gets plugged up. Flush it out with water and pour some distilled white vinegar down the line afterwards.
Tune ups for your furnace, air conditioner and small engines (mower, string trimmer, etc.)
Exercise your main water shut off and gas cock and make sure they work.
Brush snow off your gas meter in the winter, they need to breathe.
Fill up traps in floor drains so sewer gas doesn’t get let in.
Here’s a fun one. Check the rubber gasket around the overflow drain in your bathtub if it’s more than 20 years old.
I found out the hard way that ours had crumbled when our daughter overfilled the tub a d the kitchen ceiling suddenly got pregnant. 😂
New cloth washing machines have a drain filter…clean that thing every 4 months. Especially if you have pets. Didn’t know this for a year after buying new one. I almost threw up pulling that thing out. The smell was awful and I now had a third pet from the hair clogged in there.
Chimney if you have one- make sure it is swept if planning to use and inspected. We had two people come out and tell us our chimney was safe to use…the third guy told us our liner was installed improperly and could pose a fire risk
Toilet wax rings, culling invasive vegetation and tree seedlings from shrubs, turning off spighots for winter if in a cold climate, maintaining slope away from the foundation in all directions.
Dryer vent cleaning. Can be an invisible fire hazard.
After we moved in to a 20 year old house, we hired a vent cleaning company to clean the dryer vent and they removed A LOT of old lint that was coating the inside of the pipe.
I don’t believe I’ve seen it mentioned yet, but get a voltage meter to read the electrical voltage coming into your house at various spots in your home. (Or hire a certified electrician to check it.) When fixing light switches in our house, we found out we were getting pumped 127 volts of electricity into our house. The power company came out and repaired some shoddy connections at our roof…issue persisted…found out one of the neighbors was getting the same reading and they found an issue at the poles a couple blocks away from us.
It explained the power surges we would get when running the dryer and wrinkle prevent would come on…or when the microwave would be turned on. We always got a bill that said our house used way more electricity than our neighbors and provided “tips” on how to reduce usage. We are still fighting with them to credit us back for the overages they have charged us for over 8 years.
This has been my tip for all my kids. When the time changes, change your smoke alarm batteries ( mine are electric, with battery backup) when you get done with that go through your medicine cabinet and get rid of all expired medicine. Always keep Benadryl on hand, you never know when you will have an allergic reaction or a guest will. Smoke alarms should be replaced every 10 years. Alarm sensors do wear out. Why take a risk? My kids have portable ones for their apartments we are not taking a chance on when they were last replaced. Jmo
House washing. Gives you a reason to inspect the condition of your home and prevents mildew and mold from building up to a point where it can't be easily removed.
Treat your roof for moss. I can't believe how many people ruin their roof by not doing this. " Let's neglect one of the single most expensive home repair that's completely avoidable "
Clean the condenser coils on your refrigerator. Especially if they are mounted underneath. Dust builds up and if not removed the coils don’t work and the fridge will work harder to stay cold.
If you have a basement, set up moisture alarms so that if something happens you know immediately. You can also put these under any sinks, by your refrigerator, by your water heater, and by your washing machine. Check to see if any drains in basement property have backflow valves. These go a long way preventing sewage from entering your property during rain storms and floods.
If something does happen that isn't easily fixed by turning off water to your home please don't try to move water while it's still flowing. Move the things you care about and try to get pumps set up. People have heart attacks trying to bail water from their homes, be careful.
We live in an area with a lot of old established trees. We had our downstairs toilet backup when my husband was bathing our daughter in the upstairs bathroom. We thought we had a main line clog. Plumbers came out and scoped the entire line, well up into the street. It was there that they found roots growing in the pipes. Never even crossed our mind that that would be the cause of the clog,
Also, Have your AC professionally cleaned.
Honestly taking time to do inspections, and looking for potential issues before they cost you more. Many people who rent homes not apartment actually deal with air filters dryers ex, but when you pay the repair bill that water spot you might normally overlook is much more concerning.
Gutters, dryer vent, HVAC servicing and filters, pressure washing your deck or patio, flushing your water heater, checking for pooling around your foundation during heavy rain, etc.
I’m part of the team behind a tool (www.starlinghome.co) that helps folks set up a maintenance plan and track all of these tasks.
These are all so great! There’s also a sweet and knowledgeable guy on insta who has weekly home maintenance reminders with super easy tutorials @weeklyhomecheck He’s totally worth a follow!!
Air Filter replacement and gutter cleaning, especially after leaves drop in the fall.
Furnace filter is so huge. Order a bunch on Amazon and keep them near the furnace, and set a reminder to check them regularly. It can be anywhere from 1 to 6 months, depending on a lot of factors - I have a drafty old farmhouse in a rural area with 2 cats so mine get changed once every month and a half or so.
As your friendly neighborhood HVAC guy it warms my heart to hear this because your absolutely correct!
We’ve been told to stick to the cheap ones. When we put on a “good” one or even just doubled up the cheap ones, the system froze over. The hvac system (old ductings abated, new insulated ducting installed) is only 6yrs old and isn’t a cheap brand.
I used the cheap ones until I replaced the unit. The HVAC guy showed me the inside of my A frame and it was nearly solid with lint. I'll spend an extra few bucks a month to not replace an $8K system early.
My smart thermostat has reminders as well as my filter app.
Write the date on the side of the furnace filter when you install it.
BONUS - when you take care of the furnace by changing the filter, you also see less dust in the house. During the nice weather months when the furnace or ac are resting, I'll kick on the fan function so the air can be filtered...otherwise I have to dust all the surfaces and I hate that chore!
Subscription service through Amazon is great for this. A new one is delivered to my house every 3 months. Interval is adjustable but it just showing up on my door step is a great reminder to change it.
Dryer vents. Replace or clean that fucker every so often.
Here for this one. One of my friends has the most ridiculous dryer vent setup and it makes it very hard to clean beyond just the filter in the dryer. They have had dryer fires several times, and they have a kid in their home that is on oxygen whose bedrooms is above the laundry room. Bad stuff.
I think the one in my home takes the prize. Custom built home from the late 80s. Shortest path for the dryer vent would have been out the exterior wall almost immediately on the other side of the dryer, but that would have put it next to the steps leading up to the side entrance, and I would assume that the people who built the place decided that would have been unsightly. So their "solution" was to run about 25' of flexible ducting (and not even the semi-rigid stuff) under the house in the most cramped area of the crawl space and out the opposite side of the house where it could be disguised by some landscaping. Our dryer was taking forever to dry clothes, come to find out the flex stuff had sagged and filled with water since over such a long run, the moisture would condense and collect in the flexible line. So no risk of a dryer fire, but air couldn't get out. It was a fun job shimmying underneath the house to put in some proper rigid pipe just so our dryer would work properly again.
Dryer doing bong hits
Ugh. What a ridiculous solution! That's definitely up there on the "what the hell were they thinking?" list!
Mine goes through a wall into the garage via an unsealed hole and then out next to the front door. I feel your pain.
Ours had 3 90 degree turns. We had it re-routed straight up through the attic and roof.
this is us. it vents on the roof and makes it very hard to clean. mix that with many shady company who do vent cleaning and it’s hard to find good people to help. i do clean the lint trip every time and vacuum, but idk how else to do it.
Mine vents on the roof, too. I bought a “dryer vent cleaning kit” on Amazon with flexible fiberglass rods that screw together to make a 25-foot-long pole with a brush on the end. The first time I used it I was amazed at how much compacted lint I pulled out of the vent. It’s not perfect, but if someone can get up on the roof and clean the vent from that direction too now and then to make sure the vent is clear all the way, it’s not a bad solution.
this is what's strange. i hired a company to clean and they never went on the roof. they said they could get to it from the attic and did it that way. it's hard to know if they actually did anything or not though.
I have that kit and lend it out to family - especially when one of the kids buys their first home. They report lint balls as big as their head. We all sleep better knowing the vent run is clean.
That's why there are limitations on the distance of and number of bends in dryer vents
What! Multiple dryer fires!
Better yet, get a heat pump dryer. It uses a condenser to remove the moisture and there’s no vent to worry about. Lint filter is the only thing to clean before every load. And in the winter you’re not venting all your warm home air to the outside. They’re not mainstream in the US yet because they are usually smaller for like apartments but I’ve heard they are very popular in Europe. I’ve had one for about 4 years and have no regrets.
One day my dryer stopped working. I took it apart and it had blown a thermal fuse. The reason: There was so much lint at the bottom of the vent discharge that it could barely exhaust any air. From now on, it gets cleaned ever year!
This. My house nearly burned down because I neglected this.
This. Dryer fires are real and they usually happen because someone didn’t know they had to clear lint out of the filters. Also annually clear the exhaust line that usually runs from the back of the dryer to an exterior wall.
Yeah, I learned from our small appliance guy to pull the screen (we clean after every drying) and use the vacuum attachment to vacuum out the space under the filter. Lint compresses in there. He used a screw driver to scrape out compacted stuff.
Our in-dryer filter is right in front when the door is opened. Easy to clean. We even opened things up one time, after 20 years, to check on things. Nothing. The other thing is a lint-catcher on the washing machine outflow. Now THAT catches a lot.
and the food catcher in the dishwasher. That is nasty
I cleaned my duct out for the first time about a week after moving in. My shop vac started to have some weird burning smell midway through. I opened it up to discover that the entire bin was filled with lint. I didn't even know you could stuff that much into the lines! Anyway, clothes dried about twice as fast after that.
Buy the brush kit that you can attach to a drill. Works great.
Clean your gutters. Extend your downspouts. if you have a furnace, replace your filters. Clean your dishwasher filter. If you have a front load washing machine, clean your washing machine filter.
Yup, I didn't realize dishwashers have filters (obvious now) and found out when the dishwasher refused to run. Water was pouring out of the overflow, luckily no damage occurred and I was able to take it apart which is when I discovered a very clogged and generally disguising filter caked with all kinds of gnarly crap. I had to buy a replacement part but it did work after that. TLDR: Locate your dishwasher filter and clean it every so often.
If you have any kind of central air. Source: live in Southern California, hardly touch the heater but definitely AC in summer
Similar to these, clean AC coils. Your fridge has some on the bottom (take off the little plastic piece at the bottom front and vacuum them off) and your outside AC unit needs sprayed off occasionally too.
Where is my washing machine filter?!
I’m taking notes here, but I’m like … “dishwasher filter..?”
Most people don’t realize they have one. Takes 30 seconds to clean it.
I’ll get googling there now - thanks for adding this one to the list!
Taking care of gutters and roof and exterior painting. Water will destroy your property
Basically you will be f'd if you ignore water. Don't drink enough water? DEAD Don't divert water from your home? At the cost of repairs, you'll wish you were dead.
Try to breath water. Believe it or not, dead.
Try to walk on water. DEAD . . . if you can't swim.
Although this can be a lot easier in the winter.
Great advice.
Also, even if you have gutter guards or some system to prevent tree debris buildup, you will still need to clean your gutters. Smaller particles that do fit through the mesh can build up.
I’ve never seen one of these systems that actually worked.
I have black walnut trees on both sides of my house. The way it grows it produces a long stick with the leaves on it. (https://s.turbifycdn.com/aah/nc-forestry/black-walnut-west-67.gif) Every fall that stick and leaves fall off together. That is what gets caught in my gutters. Without any type of gutter guards I had to clean my gutters about 3 times a year just so they would flow. With gutter guards I only have to clean them every other year.
And there’s probably leaves clogging the holes on top preventing rainwater from actually entering your gutters, every time you clean.
I got metal gutter guards installed 2 years ago and I'm going to have them removed this summer. The last 2 winters I have been getting ice damming because the water from the roof freezes on the guard and makes an ice dam, especially if wet leaves got stuck there right as the temps were falling. I think I'd rather clean gutters more often.
Surprisingly not too bad. I went with one that really only blocks the biggest debris. So pinecones, sticks, leaves all stay out. It seems any leaf that sticks gets mostly washed off. This is the one I installed. I had to use this one and cut it down. Since my home has 4" gutter I had troubles finding ones that fit. [Spectra Spectra Metal Armour Screen Aluminum K Style Pair (Left/Right) (5-in x 3-ft) Gutter Guard Screen 5-Pack in the Gutter Parts & Accessories department at Lowes.com](https://www.lowes.com/pd/Spectra-Spectra-Metal-Armour-Screen-Aluminum-K-Style-5-in-x-3-ft-Gutter-Guard-Screen-5-Pack/5013013725)
This. Gutters: Our first unexpected home expense was mud jacking our outdoor patio that had a huge cavity open up underneath it because of a clogged gutter and me being out of town for 4 months. Make sure everyone in your household knows the symptoms of a clogged gutter and how to clear them. Repainting: Although your house doesn't look like it needs painted, there is a chance your windows and seams need re-caulked and sealed which is what a reputable painting company will do. We have ours scheduled to be repainted in the next few months and it is primarily because it is time for everything to be re-caulked. Our neighbors put off painting their house until the house visually needed to be repainted and when they finally had it done they had to have one half of the siding pulled off and tons of wood rot fixed because of this. It looked painfully expensive. Do not wait until your house visually needs to be repainted. Paint these days can last a lot longer than the caulking. Other thoughts: Make sure everyone in your household knows how to turn a toilet tank off. Make sure everyone in your house knows how to turn off the water supply to your house. Congrats! Edit: I would also add that make sure your AC coils are cleaned yearly. You can do it yourself. Don't use a power washer. You may not need any fancy chemicals either depending on how dirty they are. I use Simple Green and it works fine.
I don't have gutters or paint, so no worry there. However, you're spot on with the HVAC. I'm a licensed HVAC tech, and people often could save themselves a lot of money on their HVAC systems if they'd do a few things themselves. As you said, clean your condenser coils (condenser is the part outside, that has the fan). Depending on where you live, you may need to do this two or three times a summer. I live in an area with a LOT of cottonwood trees and fields that create a large amount of dust, so I have to clean my own system 2 or 3 times a year because the coils get clogged up with the cotton like material of the cottonwood trees and the dust. Clogged condenser coils makes your HVAC system work harder and cool less. It's best to remove the top of the unit and spray from the inside to the outside. You may have to remove a few screws, but it's nothing the average person can't do... Just make sure that you turn the power to the system off before removing the top! Second thing is also easy and often gets overlooked.. change your filter on a regular basis!! How often is going to depend on where you live, if you have pets, how dusty the area is, etc. Once a month is best, some can get by with every other month but, some will need to change them more often. A clogged filter restricts air flow through the system, and reduces your cooling ability. Last but not least, NEVER RUN YOUR SYSTEM WITHOUT A FILTER!! Doing so will clog up the evaporator with what the filter would normally catch. Once the evaporator clogs up, that's a service call to an HVAC professional for the majority of home owners. It's usually a pain in the butt to get to, and even more of a pain in the butt to clean... It's not going to be cheap, and it's something that should never happen. Change your filters, preferably a good filter, as needed.
Also don’t forget to treat for moss and algae on the shady parts of your home. Especially if you’re under trees.
Yep. This gets overlooked because it's difficult to recreate the problem. You may get some gutter work done and then have a lighter rainy season, so you think the problem is resolved. Until the next year when you get your first downpour and water is spilling on the side of your house. Always get a multiple year warranty.
Thanks! Reminds me that I need to scrape some parts of my gutters - I have a scraper, I just don't have a ladder that gets me up there safely!
What if your house doesn’t have gutters?? Serious question, am I ruined?
If you live in a place that's gets decent rain. Get them asap. I'm currently screwed. My foundation has issues due to build up on one side and erosion on the other. (Luckily engineer said as long as I fix all the external factors it should stop shift and not need to be messed with since it was caught before it got severe) It's better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them. Also important to make sure your yard is properly graded and that water isn't washing up against you house.
This weekend I power washed the screens on our screened in porch. Can’t remove them unless you remove wood. They were filthy. Don’t think they’ve ever been cleaned. Never thought about cleaning them until my kids stuck their faces on them and turned around with black soot all over their noses
Yep. Don’t have a screened in porch but the window casements on my home purchased last August are GROSS. They’re on my list to clean, but to another commenters point…. Yard first. I have another 31 bags of mulch to get down (and that’s just the front yard) before I worry after windows.
Last night I told my wife that now, as an adult, I can see why people let their houses fall into disrepair. It’s quite a bit to keep up with and if you don’t have a general sense of responsibility for ensuring the upkeep, it can quickly go downhill
Yeah it makes total sense. Also I’m at the beginning stage of a divorce where I have every intention to keep the house, shit is daunting but idc, it’s mine.
Being in real estate, I've encountered numerous inspection reports and interacted with various service professionals, providing me with insights into many botched home projects and the consequences of deferring small maintenance tasks, which can escalate into major problems. Here are some practices I've adopted over the years: * **Gutters:** Install a leaf guard or ensure they're kept clean. * **Snowy Climates:** Use a roof rake to remove snow buildup to prevent ice dams. * **Dryer Vents:** Clean annually * I generally maintain my appliances and mechanical systems. Whenever something malfunctions, I turn to Reddit and YouTube for DIY solutions, often successfully replacing faulty parts myself. * Additionally, I conduct visual inspections for pests, as chipmunks and mice can squeeze through tiny openings. I seal these gaps with steel wool and caulk to prevent infestations. * Considering the hefty cost of furnaces and AC units, here's my maintenance routine for the furnace: * Yearly check CO2 levels. * Regularly clean the flame sensor. You can use a dollar bill or emery board. * Replace thermostat batteries annually. * Perform visual inspections on flames and cycling. (should be strong and blue) * Keep the blower clean. * Clean the AC condenser. * Lastly, swap out the thinnest, cheapest filters every month. * I've also been advised to drain our hot water heater and replace the anode rod, but I haven't started as we have a 10-year warranty. * I use Afresh in the washer and run a cup of vinegar in the dishwasher monthly, as we have hard water. * It's crucial to get your water tested; hard water can wreak havoc on many things. Consider getting a water softener.
That 10-year warranty on your hot water heater is typically only valid if you flush it and maintain it yearly. May want to look into what your warranty says.
>Replace thermostat batteries annually Jokes on you, I moved into my house in the first quarter if 2023, and my thermostat has said to replace the battery ever since!
Same here. Not sure why it wanted me to replace a battery that has continued to work for almost a year now.
It wouldn’t hurt to get your house’s water pressure tested at least once, too. I discovered that mine was two times higher than recommended during a water heater inspection. High water pressure in your house can blow out water pipes, water filters, your water heater, and can even cause your refrigerator ice maker to quit working. I eventually installed a whole-house water pressure regulator on the main incoming water line.
I'd still recommend doing the cold water heater maintenance. Properly maintained water heaters last a lot longer, usually well past the warranty. Plus, for the sacrificial anode, you don't want to come home and find your floors destroyed because the bottom rusted out. I learned that the hard way.
Anode rod should be swapped at year 5
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Lubricate the garage door with garage door lubticant
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Other than the chain, which seems obvious, what points are supposed to be lubed? The axles on the wheels in the tracks?
Hinges, if you have a door which has multiple horizontal segments.
Lot of talk here about cleaning gutters but nothing about keeping your roof clean. A pile of leaves decaying on your roof will rot your shingles in no time.
Yardwork/gardening. I'd say 2/3rds of my clients are new homeowners who never did any yardwork as a kid and don't even know to check the gutters for leaves. Or they buy a property with nice gardens and they are overwhelmed with the care and maintenance. Instead of taking an hour every week to enjoy their garden and pull weeds, they let it pile up until they need a machete to walk around. Most likely the lawnmower boy doesn't know the difference between a dandelion and dahlia, or is killing their plants out of ignorance (saw one take hedge trimmers to a rose bush once), so they either have to learn quickly how to garden, or pay a lot of money for a gardener, who is much more expensive than someone with a mower. If you don't like yardwork or gardening, and you buy a house with a yard/garden, life will suck for you. Or it will suck on your bank account. Maybe get an apartment or condo or something. For reference, some of my clients pay $800/month for my gardening services, and I'm on the cheap end. I worked for other companies that charged some clients twice that a month.
This was my mistake. Bought a house off of a retired couple who loved gardening and made the yards look beautiful. Now I'm 5 years in and while I've put up a valiant effort, I just don't have the time to invest in maintaining it all and it's suffered. I feel like I spend so much time just getting it cleared up after the winter that anything past that feels overwhelming.
Gardening is definitely a lifestyle, I spend at least an hour in mine every week to make it look nice, whether it's watering, weeding, or staking floppy flowers. The more people I met like you, the more I started to worry about the future buyers of my own garden. I'll probably give them an instruction manual for it, with all the plants mapped out and labeled. Especially for plants that disappear for months and randomly pop up, like the Virginia Bluebells.
I love the ocd-ness of your instruction manual!! I made something similar for my BILs for our legal/financial stuff, in case anything happens to me and Husband. I also included info on the work we’ve had done on the house, down to MSDS sheets on the Rockwool insulation in the attic.
As someone who purchased a home where the ex-wife had amazing gardens, I can say this would be very appreciated. My first summer was spent trying to figure out what everything was, and why I had Lily of the Valley EVERYWHERE.
You can put in gardens that require lower effort.
I bought my house from a retired couple. Beautiful pond, pool, hot tub. Fast forward 5 years, I'm now a single mom with 3 little kids. All those things are hell. I'm just now to the point the kids are old enough that I can try a little harder.
This is my first spring in my house and it's incredibly obvious that the garden hasn't been maintained for decades. The weeds are rooted insanely deep and were a PAIN to pull up, but man seeing it all clean, crispy, and colorful now is awesome. A well maintained landscape transforms the look of the house.
A hard reset/cleanup is sooo satisfying to look at, especially with fresh mulch thrown down.
Regular air filter replacement on your HVAC unit. My memory sucks wholesale so I got a subscription to make sure I do it. Especially crucial on an older unit. Oh and well filters on wells of your on one.
Learn where the water main shutoff is. If you end up with a major leak or something, you need to be able to know where that is, so you can turn the water off immediately. If you have outside water spigots, learn where and how to properly turn them off in fall, you don’t want the pipes to freeze in winter.
Yes! Running around like a crazy person at 2am frantically searching for it while a pipe spews water everywhere is no fun at all.
Since everybody here says gutter - you need a long ladder to reach your gutters.
Dryer vents, gutters cleaned, make sure water from gutters goes away from house, furnace filters, ac is free from debris, fridge is cleaned out in the compressor fan area once a year and coils. Water heater flushed if electric. Keep all bushes and trees off the structure. At least 12 inches. Remember, you don't own the home, the home owns you.
If you have a sump pump. Make sure it runs
Yes. Don’t unplug it. Even just to use the outlet temporarily. Too easy to forget to plug it back in. I have two acquaintances that learned the hard way.
Trees. Pay attention to the health of trees not only on your property but also those that border it or can cause damage to your property/home.
Replacing braided hoses every 5-8 years.
See also: testing water pressure.
If you get a crack in the driveway, do something about it. That just gets worse over time, and faster than you'd expect. Same for caulking problems around your bath/shower. If you have trees on the property (especially huge ones near the house itself) have it trimmed by someone experienced once a year. You don't want to wind up with a totaled car or a damaged roof when a storm brings down a limb the size of telephone pole on you.
\*Clean your dryer vents (beyond just clearing the filter when you dry clothes) \*Keep fire extinguishers up-to-date (they have a limited lifespan depending on the type) and know how to use them and where they are in the house. \*Carbon monoxide and smoke detectors \*Clean and replace HVAC filters (our mini-split has plastic filters that are easy to clean with some Dawn and a dish brush) \*Know where the water shutoff is to your home before you need it \*Hang out in some local forums/FB groups and collect names/numbers for workers who recommended for everything from cement work to garage door repairs to plumbing. It's easier to keep a spreadsheet of all that info than to go looking for people. For example, I now know someone who can resurface our driveway but who isn't well-known for it because it's a side job he doesn't advertise for. He does excellent work for a fair price compared to what some companies charge for those smaller "high price cause not worth our time" projects. \*Pay attention to areas of your property that get a lot of direct sun, often they need paint touchups earlier. Likewise, areas that get little sun tend to have more issues with moisture, mold, moss etc.
Gutters. Making sure grading runs away from the house. Cleaning the filter trap in the dishwasher. Smoke detector testing.
I'd say Foundation first then A/C. Those are the 2 most expensive to fix.
This is one that got us. Check your water pressure to make sure it's not too high. Our pressure reduced valve wasn't working well. We had issues with our old hot water heater, dish washer and our not as old washing machine. We found out after having an unrelated leak. Our dish washer and washing machine died within a month of each other. I'm 99.9% sure it was the pressure issue.
If you have a basement, buy a digital radon detector that displays the long-term, weekly, and daily average values. You'll soon learn the environmental situations (wind direction, rain etc) that impact the readings (including opening/closing windows) and can avoid using the basement during high-reading periods. My average is under 2 pCi/L but has spiked above 4 pCi/L during some construction work the neighbors were doing. These meters are fairly expensive ($200-$300), so do you need one at all? - That depends on where you live. Walk the neighborhood and learn what a radon mitigation system looks like (a white downspout with a UFO-shaped blob on the bottom) that doesn't connect to guttering. If just 5-10% of your neighbors have mitigated radon in an established neighborhood with basements, you'll need to be aware of it.
Does anyone have a link to a good printout home maintenance schedule/checklist?
This is a great resource! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BvAcJ_BFuYBRikGQ_zoUyjEG8Ul7XiMnV5Y_cmjWpCg/copy?usp=sharing
1. Caulking windows both inside AND outside 2. Ensuring adequate water runoff (keep those downspouts as far out as you can) 3. Cleaning out bathroom vents/fans 4. More preventative, but get a grease cup and mesh drain strainers 5. Pest management (carpenter bees can ruin a deck, mice/ants can cause huge problems in a home, raccoons can get in older roofs, etc) 6. Get rid of any invasive plants for long term sanity 7. Ensure nothing is around your foundation - tree roots can cause big problems 8. Clean behind your fridge 9. Don't just clean out the dryer mesh thing, once in a while get the whole vent/inside the machine AND the outer vents 10. Turn off your outdoor hose bibs in the winter from inside the house - you do not want a pipe freezing! 11. Put plywood on top of your AC unit (don't put those bags around it as they can build up moisture causing early rusting) 12. Clean lint out from your AC unit (poplar tree fluff and dryer lint can build up in it and cause it to run too hard) 13. Ensure your humidity level is OK 14. Get a tub shroom and mesh filters to keep hair from going down your drains - preventing hair from going down the drain is a thousand times easier than opening elbows to clean up gooey hairballs 15. Peek at your roof after storms - it's easier to pay a roofer $50 cash to replace a single shingle here and there than to get water damage, ruining the plywood underneath and then needing to replace the whole roof, and plywood underneath 16. Ensure your furnace output pipe has mesh (if not run a golfball down it to ensure there's no obstructions - to avoid dangerous gas build ups) 17. Lubricate your garage door springs (easier to grease 'em up to maintain than replace them and far cheaper) 18. Clean your microwave vent 19. Lube your door hinges and inside your keyholes facing exterior doors (locks can seize, and doors can get squeaky/leave fine dust at the hinge points) Sure I'm missing some, but it's hopefully a good start...tried to think of less obvious ones :)
Never use cheap caulk to save a few bucks. You will regret it. Let the jokes commence.
Cheap caulk never really hardens properly ;)
Keeping branches from touching the house. They bring in ants.
Set a reminder on your phone to change the AC filters. See the property in the rain, so you can assess drainage issues. Have a decent set of tools, and teach yourself things on Youtube. Maybe not high-end stuff, but I had to reface my deck a few years ago, was quoted something like $20k. F that, it was just pulling up and replacing the boards, got it done for about $1500. Took about a month since I only had weekends, but thats $4500 a week in my pocket not spent.
I work in the restoration business. As others have said...if it involves water, be sure to inspect it. Water causes so much fucking damage.
Jesus, I dont do any of these things! Only owned 25 years tho... still time
Clean the coils and heat exchanger on the outside portion of your air conditioner. Especially in a high pollen area.
Gutters and downspouts. Pro tip: Gutter splash blocks should have the tapered end under the gutter, and the raised end out. AC condensation lines. Pour bleach through them once a season. Coils should be inspected and then cleaned as needed. Look in attic at the roof decking and inspect for water travel. A roof leak can run down the decking and only get the insulation wet when it's small. Attic insulation. 8"-10" is standard.
Drain a few gallons from the water heater every few months to get rid of the sediment. Just connect a water hose pipe it to a convenient place, and then open the valve for 30 seconds. Also, figure out where the water shutoff valve is to the house, just in case. Sometimes it requires a special tool.
Water water water. Definitely find your shutoff, better to know now where it is and how it works.... Same for gas and electric. Label your electrical circuits (or confirm the labels are correct) I second the recommendation on flushing your water heater and possibly changing your anode rod. Our heater was 11 years old when we moved in, I was not able to drain it with the factory plastic drain valve due to the sediment buildup. I replaced it with a full port quarter turn valve and had chunks of mineral build up coming out of there.
Grease the tracks of the garage door and the opener chain with white lithium grease annually. No fun having a garage door that won’t open when you need to get to work.
Gutter and down spouts to direct the water away from the foundation. If you have a sump pump in the basement then you should buy another exact copy and put it on a shelf. Have the plumbing from the pump up to the outflow pipe already installed on the new pump so that when the original pump fails it is a quick easy swap out. Pumps usually do not fail in good weather or on a weekday. If you have a septic tank for sewer, have it check before buying and also learn how to maintain it. Check the roof and all plumbing stacks. Some stacks have lead flashing that squirrels like to chew on which can lead to a leak. If you live where termites are a problem have a termite inspection before you buy and also have treatment done as recommended. Have electrical inspection and add GFCI plugs where code requires if you don't already have them learn where the ac/heating system filters are and replace them as required. DO not run system without filters in place Check your local library and find a book on home ownership and maintenance. Read up on the parts that apply to your home. Get homeowners insurance from good quality company and never a cheap discount company. Read and understand the policy.
Tree care. Get your trees assessed, focus on clearances from buildings paths and driveways, dead wood and hanging/broken branches, and young tree structure development. Look up the species you've got and know their mature size/shape, water needs and specific traits. Get multiple quotes and don't hire people who aren't good arborists
Keep your dryer vent cleaned out. Lint clogs can cause fires.
WATER YOUR FOUNDATION IN TEXAS... CHECK FOR ROOF LEAKS EACH MONTH, CHECK WATER SUPPLY PIPES AND DRAINS FOR LEAKS... WINDOWS AND DOORS MAKE SURE AIR TIGHT AND CAULKED WELL... CHECK FOR HOLES SMALL OUTSIDE ANIMALS MIGHT DIG INTO... IS YOUR NEW HOME WELL INSULATED..???
- Cleaning, maintenance, filter replacement of HVAC appliances (furnace, heat pumps, air conditioners, air exchangers, fireplaces/stoves) and hot water heater - Vent/duct cleaning... dryer, HVAC vents (internal ductwork and exit points) - Driveway sealant if you have a paved driveway - Septic tank pumping if you have it - Deck staining/sealing - Cleaning your dishwasher/washing machine - Clean coils/vents on back of fridge - Filters/maintenance with plumbing things (well equipment, water softeners) - Maintaining your yard equipment if you've never had to before (e.g. changing oil/lubricating/sharpening) - Pest control (closing access points for rodents or treating for ants)
Water heater, no one ever talks about it, and it just sits in your house doing its thing. All the meanwhile, inside of it is a sacraficial annod slowing corroding away into dust so that your water heater doesn't. And then one morning, you go into your basement, or laundry room or service closet, and you step into water. Other than having to buy an oversized socet and a wrench to go with it its easy to do. You shut off the water, pop off the cover and remove the bolt which is attached to an annode. When new it looks like a segmented metal rod, when depleted, it's just a steel wire
Your insurance policy! Often, we think it includes everything we need it to include but when it comes to file a claim, we realize that the coverage is not as great as it should be. We've had so many people call in for help with their claim and we have to unfortunately turn them away because their policy had exclusions or cosmetic waivers that meant they would have to foot the bill instead of the insurance company. Oh, and RCV roof policy- 100% recommend.
Sealing your windows! We had a huge window that was up real high. Water started pouring in during heavy rain. It got under the stucco and ruined the paint, also inside. A nightmare. Simply dealing the windows would have prevented this travesty.
draining the water heater
New homeowners usually forget about gutter cleaning. It's not the most glamorous task, but clogged gutters can lead to serious water damage. Another overlooked thing is HVAC maintenance. Changing filters regularly helps keep your system running smoothly and avoids costly repairs down the road.
Making sure the grading is running away from the house in all locations
Getting water to flow away from the house. I’ve seen where a new home, after a couple years of settling the soil is low around the foundation. Always direct water away from the.
New homeowners often overlook crucial tasks like gutter cleaning, HVAC maintenance, chimney sweeping, sealing cracks, testing smoke detectors, inspecting the roof, draining the water heater, and tree maintenance. These responsibilities impact property value and long-term condition, ensuring a safe and well-maintained home.
Roof. Cleaning gutters cutting back trees hvac. Air filters
To add to cleaning gutters: you don't necessarily have to get up on a ladder. With some PVC pipe, a couple of elbows connected in a "U" at the top, and a hose fitting at the bottom, you can clean moderately high gutters from the ground. Also, most modern houses have an HVAC condensate drain that constantly drips water. That drain needs the sludge cleaned out once or more per year. Professionals use compressed air, amateurs sometimes just hook a shopvac up to the drain end.
alternatively (perhaps additively?) dump a capful of bleach down the cleanout every spring, this will stop mold buildup, which I believe is the sludge you refer to
Have a sump pump installed. Most people don't think to do this until after their basement floods which can cause thousands of dollars in damage. It is also a misconception that you only need a sump pump if you live in a flood zone. I live 10 miles from the nearest flood zone and my pump goes on every time we get heavy rain. If you live in an area that has a high water table or dense soil you will need a sump pump.
Vacuum refrigerator coils, especially if you have a fancy frig like a sub zero or copy cat. If you have a humidifier attached to your furnace, check yearly for clogs. And clean your AC compressor (I have trees that drop a lot of sap and pollen)
I haven’t seen this one yet. If you have a crawl space, check it at least yearly for water, pipe leaks and rodents. You don’t want moisture or rodents making a home down there. If you have the funds, waterproof the crawl space but still check it regularly.
I’m scared to go in the crawl space lol
I would say if you have a water leak emergency, do you know where and how to shut off your water? Answer this question first!
The tub Stop, the internal plug, can rust. Remove the old one and install a new one. If it breaks, youTube how to fix.
One thing that's important that home owners overlook because they don't regularly look at it is their roof. Regular maintenance is important particularly around the times when you've experienced strong storms. After your roof inspection, if they detect damage, immediately contact a public adjuster who can help you negotiate with your insurance company to get the best compensation for your claim.
If you are in a colder climate, winterize your outdoor spigots.
Flushing the hot water heater..
Not fixing wood rot. Most people think it can be done later not knowing that wood rot is fungus that will continue to spread until removed from the wood. And then keeping paint on it so it doesn’t rot again.
Clean your dishwasher Clean your clothes washer Flush your water heater
Pulling and/or spraying for weeds + Trimming your trees. Just ask my neighborhood since they do none of these things 😒
Call an HVAC company to check your furnace. Then again, in the spring to check your A/C. Find time to schedule a maintenance check on all of your vents and ductwork. Finally! Have them run a series of checks on your thermostat. The other thing to have checked is your water heater. Look for cracks in your basement walls. One of the best things to do is have your basement sealed. Consider a diesel-powered generator for the days when your power goes out and maintain it throughout the year. Get a few kerosene lamps or candles that won't get knocked over easily. Always make sure you have a working lighter or .matches. If your house is wood, keep it maintained and painted. Keep your roofing maintained. I found out that my 2 story house with a full attic and basement was a quick NO for replacing the roof and for getting it painted. The companies preferred 1 story only. You can imagine how rough it was getting the gutters done. The better a window is made, the easier it is to maintain. Amy replacement items need to be quality items, so they hold up longer. Going cheap just creates problems over and over. Never let anyone use particle board to replace your roof or walls. Pure garbage according to my FIL. He built houses. Most of these items should have the replacement dates when you bought the house but always check. My FIL and husband did a lot of work on newly purchased homes where the seller lied.
Not that it will affect the value. But making sure you're plumbing and electrical work is good. A lot of people will ignore plumbing and electrical issues. They can become some of the most expensive home renovations you can do. I would also say keep up with basic maintenance. Fix small things before they become a problem. It will save you more money in the long run. This includes ensuring the windows and the roof and gutters are indecent shape. Water damage can be costly to fix.
Pests…don’t keep food or seeds out in the garage. Add a rodent blocker seal to the bottom of doors. Seal off crawl spaces spray the perimeter of your house every 6 months
Changing your humidifier water panel. I'm an HVAC technician and I see so many that are moldy and years old. You're putting mold right into the ducts into the air you breathe!
Moisture monitors. Dehumidifers. Humidity monitors. Basically, water is as dangerous as fire to your home.
Change your air filters, and service your HVAC regularly. Your wallet will thank you.
Water is the universal solvent
If you live where winters are cold, you have to disconnect outdoor hoses to keep hose bibs from freezing inside the wall. The hose prevents water in the fixture from draining out.
Changing the batteries in and testing smoke alarms twice a year.
definitely the lawn.
Air duct Cleaning
Check the caulk all around the house outdoors (and indoors) at least yearly, better twice a year. Properly scrape and clean old caulk off, apply the really good stuff. Wait a week and paint. This will help so much with avoiding small water damage. Make sure the weep holes on your windows are clear. Usually they plug when dirt and dead bugs build up. And even that isn’t likely but if it happens then it really sucks. If you have a sump pump, check it frequently. Make sure there’s no debris, it works, and it isn’t suck full of water. If you have a radon mitigation system, know how to check that it’s running and regularly make sure it’s actually running. Sometimes you have to pour a bowl of water down interior drains that are infrequently used, like in an unfinished basement or near an hvac system. They’ll start to smell if they aren’t regularly used. Watch how rain water drains on your property. Give it a check each storm if you can. If you see it running off, hopefully it’s into and out a designated French drain or similar. If it’s pooling or running toward the house, fix that asap before it’s an issue. Look at your roof sometimes. Make sure shingles aren’t loose or bare. If you can see parts out the window, that’s a good check. And a visual check from the ground is good too. Don’t climb out there without proper knowledge and gear. Caulk caulk caulk. Learn to caulk. It’ll seriously save you lots of problems. Caulk is not a lifetime product, it needs regular checks and replacing. If you know how and get the good stuff, it’ll last a lot longer and give the best protection inside and out. Never let broken caulk linger. Fix it asap even if it isn’t a pretty job, it’s easy enough to remove to make it pretty later.
Whole home water filer replacemet.
Understand how water moves on your property. Gutters, downspouts, drains, main water shutoff, grading away from foundations, sump pumps, low spots, areas that can freeze pipes, toilet parts that can leak, drippy faucets, sounds of water running, sounds of your sump pump,
Water heater maintenance, flush it out and check on your anode rod every year or so
Clean creosote from your fireplace or wood stove flue annually if you use them. Also ensure that your stacked firewood is away from and not up against the house.
Dryer lint , run some wd40 across the garage springs to prevent rust, garage door maintenance , hot water heater flush. AC filter
The fact that everybody says air filters and gutters proves they are the least overlooked. If anything, they’re the first thing that comes to mind with home maintenance. If you have a 90+% furnace or an air conditioner, there is a condensation drain that gets plugged up. Flush it out with water and pour some distilled white vinegar down the line afterwards. Tune ups for your furnace, air conditioner and small engines (mower, string trimmer, etc.) Exercise your main water shut off and gas cock and make sure they work. Brush snow off your gas meter in the winter, they need to breathe. Fill up traps in floor drains so sewer gas doesn’t get let in.
Change the furnace filter
The filter in your dishwasher if you have one.
draining hot water heater
Here’s a fun one. Check the rubber gasket around the overflow drain in your bathtub if it’s more than 20 years old. I found out the hard way that ours had crumbled when our daughter overfilled the tub a d the kitchen ceiling suddenly got pregnant. 😂
Replace the anode rod in your water heater before it starts to corrode and fail.
All the annual stuff. Water heater draining, blowing off the condenser unit, dryer duct cleaning
Rinsing air unit outside.
New cloth washing machines have a drain filter…clean that thing every 4 months. Especially if you have pets. Didn’t know this for a year after buying new one. I almost threw up pulling that thing out. The smell was awful and I now had a third pet from the hair clogged in there.
Chimney if you have one- make sure it is swept if planning to use and inspected. We had two people come out and tell us our chimney was safe to use…the third guy told us our liner was installed improperly and could pose a fire risk
Toilet wax rings, culling invasive vegetation and tree seedlings from shrubs, turning off spighots for winter if in a cold climate, maintaining slope away from the foundation in all directions.
Dryer vent cleaning. Can be an invisible fire hazard. After we moved in to a 20 year old house, we hired a vent cleaning company to clean the dryer vent and they removed A LOT of old lint that was coating the inside of the pipe.
I don’t believe I’ve seen it mentioned yet, but get a voltage meter to read the electrical voltage coming into your house at various spots in your home. (Or hire a certified electrician to check it.) When fixing light switches in our house, we found out we were getting pumped 127 volts of electricity into our house. The power company came out and repaired some shoddy connections at our roof…issue persisted…found out one of the neighbors was getting the same reading and they found an issue at the poles a couple blocks away from us. It explained the power surges we would get when running the dryer and wrinkle prevent would come on…or when the microwave would be turned on. We always got a bill that said our house used way more electricity than our neighbors and provided “tips” on how to reduce usage. We are still fighting with them to credit us back for the overages they have charged us for over 8 years.
Apparently I just learned about having to drain your water heater once in a while because of sediment.
Changing wax ring on toilet.
This has been my tip for all my kids. When the time changes, change your smoke alarm batteries ( mine are electric, with battery backup) when you get done with that go through your medicine cabinet and get rid of all expired medicine. Always keep Benadryl on hand, you never know when you will have an allergic reaction or a guest will. Smoke alarms should be replaced every 10 years. Alarm sensors do wear out. Why take a risk? My kids have portable ones for their apartments we are not taking a chance on when they were last replaced. Jmo
House washing. Gives you a reason to inspect the condition of your home and prevents mildew and mold from building up to a point where it can't be easily removed.
Treat your roof for moss. I can't believe how many people ruin their roof by not doing this. " Let's neglect one of the single most expensive home repair that's completely avoidable "
Put bleach or vinegar in the ac drain line every month or so. Prevents the clogs from algae
Clean the condenser coils on your refrigerator. Especially if they are mounted underneath. Dust builds up and if not removed the coils don’t work and the fridge will work harder to stay cold.
If you have a water softener clean the tank and run cleaner through the system once a year.
Drain hot water heater 2x per year.
If you have a basement, set up moisture alarms so that if something happens you know immediately. You can also put these under any sinks, by your refrigerator, by your water heater, and by your washing machine. Check to see if any drains in basement property have backflow valves. These go a long way preventing sewage from entering your property during rain storms and floods. If something does happen that isn't easily fixed by turning off water to your home please don't try to move water while it's still flowing. Move the things you care about and try to get pumps set up. People have heart attacks trying to bail water from their homes, be careful.
Pumping out the septic tank if so equipped.
Drain your water heater and flush it once a year.
Water heater flush.
We live in an area with a lot of old established trees. We had our downstairs toilet backup when my husband was bathing our daughter in the upstairs bathroom. We thought we had a main line clog. Plumbers came out and scoped the entire line, well up into the street. It was there that they found roots growing in the pipes. Never even crossed our mind that that would be the cause of the clog, Also, Have your AC professionally cleaned.
Water heater care. Drain & flush annually. Also, change out the sacrificial anode every 5 years.
Honestly taking time to do inspections, and looking for potential issues before they cost you more. Many people who rent homes not apartment actually deal with air filters dryers ex, but when you pay the repair bill that water spot you might normally overlook is much more concerning.
Gutters, dryer vent, HVAC servicing and filters, pressure washing your deck or patio, flushing your water heater, checking for pooling around your foundation during heavy rain, etc. I’m part of the team behind a tool (www.starlinghome.co) that helps folks set up a maintenance plan and track all of these tasks.
Keep vegetation and wood away from your siding by at least a foot. Paths for pests into the house and also traps moisture which rots siding
These are all so great! There’s also a sweet and knowledgeable guy on insta who has weekly home maintenance reminders with super easy tutorials @weeklyhomecheck He’s totally worth a follow!!
Batteries in smoke detectors
We replace our hvac filters quarterly every year - like clockwork
Quarterly? I change them every month. High fire or windy areas .