Home Design

5 Tips for Keeping Your Home Maintained Year-Round

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One of the hidden costs of homeownership is home maintenance. Although the age of your home and other factors, such as weather, can affect your typical maintenance costs, it’s common for homeowners to spend thousands of dollars annually on routine maintenance costs.

Your home is one of your most significant financial investments, and you can retain or increase your home’s value by investing in routine maintenance. You may also avoid unexpected repair costs with a good home maintenance strategy.

1. Clean and Maintain Essential Systems

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Nobody wants to pay for emergency repairs if their air conditioning unit breaks down during a heatwave. Invest in air conditioner maintenance service from air conditioning experts, such as Direct AC. Skilled HVAC technicians can come to your home, inspect your system, and perform routine maintenance. Your AC will not have to work as hard to cool your home if your air ducts are clean, and you replace your filter. Investing in this routine maintenance will reduce your energy costs and ensure your AC unit works effectively.

On top of that, you should have your heating system inspected before winter hits. Clean your furnace and vents to ensure your system can efficiently distribute heat throughout your home. If you have a boiler, your boiler may need to be drained to remove sediment.

Check your plumbing system often. Inspect pipes and look for leaks. Repairing leaks can reduce your energy costs and prevent water damage to your home, furniture, or belongings. If you have a sump pump, you should also inspect it before spring to ensure it will effectively remove water from your basement.

2. Check Your Home’s Exterior

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Your roof is one of the most critical features of your home. A leaking roof can cause thousands of dollars in water damage and compromise support beams, ceilings, floors, and property. Replace broken or missing shingles and have your roof professionally inspected if you note any potential leaks, such as discoloration in the ceiling.

Your gutters remove water from your home. Your roof and siding can be damaged if the gutters are not draining correctly. Clean out leaves and debris twice annually to ensure your gutters function properly.

Clean your home’s exterior regularly. Removing dirt from the siding can prevent mold from growing. You can also prevent discoloration by keeping this clean.

Paint or stain exposed wood around your windows and on your deck or porch. Painting or staining can protect your wood from water damage.

3. Do Some Spring Cleaning

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Spring is an ideal time to clean out your closets and dispose of unwanted items. It’s also an ideal time to consider renting cheap storage units to store possessions you may want to keep but do not need at your house. Clutter can inhibit your ability to make the most of the space in your home, and it can also keep property damage from rodents or leaks from going unnoticed. Rent a storage unit from a reputable storage company, such as U.S. Self Storage, and store items you do not need to use regularly. This way, you can keep beloved possessions in a self-storage unit while controlling the clutter in your home.

4. Complete a Safety Check

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Check your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors at least once a year to ensure they’re working correctly. You should also set a memorable date to replace the batteries. This will prevent the need to deal with replacing batteries when the low battery alarm goes off.

Check your fire extinguishers and ensure they haven’t expired. Replace any fire extinguishers that have expired and make sure every member of your family knows where the fire extinguishers are.

You should also schedule a chimney inspection annually and get it cleaned regularly. Creosote can build up inside your chimney. Creosote is flammable and can cause a chimney fire, which can destroy your home.

5. Perform Routine Yard Maintenance

Mowing the lawn and trimming your hedges are ongoing yard maintenance tasks performed during the summer months. You should also rake leaves and remove debris from your lawn in spring and fall.

Inspect the trees in your yard and look for evidence of disease. Weak or dead limbs can fall and damage your home or property. Tree branches can also damage your roof or siding if they scrape against your house. You can protect your home by having tree branches trimmed regularly.

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