Thursday, March 21, 2013

Putting a Stop to Potentiall​y Costly Home Repairs

With owning a home comes additional responsibilities of maintenance and upkeep. There are list upon lists of things you need to check and look after to insure any problems in your home get resolved before they become potentially costly repairs. I have compiled a short list of items that don't always come to mind with your busy lives but are important to help maintain your home and save you money in the long run:

Inside your home
-have your furnace serviced once a year
-change furnace filters monthly
-check smoke detector and carbon monoxide batteries monthly
-drain hot water tanks once a year
-grind ice cubes and sliced lemon in your garbage disposal monthly to clean and deodorize
-clean grease from your range fan with hot soapy water bi-monthly
-check caulking around showers and tubs every six months, remove and replace if deteriorated
-vacuum refrigerator coils once a year
-reverse your ceiling fans direction for better air flow- clock wise direction is best for air movement
-if you have a crawl space, check yearly and after major storms to make sure no standing water

Outside your home
-inspect your home’s exterior once a year for wood rot, look for peeling paint, cracked windows, peeled up or missing shingles
-remove storm windows and install screens or vise versa depending on the season
-before winter starts drain your sprinkler systems and yard hoses
-check gutters monthly or install gutter guards, check weekly during fall
-water your foundation in the summer- especially in dry weather, the dirt needs watering so your foundation doesn’t start to move
-inspect for leaks and cracks in your foundation every 4-6 months
-check dirt level around your foundation once a year, if you see a difference in color variation of where the dirt used to be you would need to add dirt around your foundation

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