Preventative Home Maintenance – Why Bother and What Can I Do?

Q. Why should I bother with preventative care on my property?

Routine and preventative care is the trick to keep the safety, beauty and function of any dwelling; in the future it will help save you money. The quantity of time required to keep your residence will change significantly. It’s dependent upon the grade of construction in addition to the size and age of your property.

Preventative Home Maintenance

As a home inspector that sees all sorts and requirements of houses, I make every attempt to recognize existing or possible issues but it’s not really feasible for almost any home inspector to forecast the future check it out. So as a professional Home Inspector, I urge all my clients budget between $1000-$1500 annually for repairs and routine maintenance. Also, when I do a review I supply a scheduled maintenance checklist customized for every home.

Your car has a manufacturers maintenance program and if you do not follow it (change oil, etc) it will radically shorten its lifetime, affect its functionality and might result in premature failure (been stranded on the side of the street?) .

Your house behaves in precisely the exact same way; you do the prescribed routine maintenance or you may pay rise operating costs (power, gasoline, etc) and you’ll pay several times over or more for repairs afterward sell a house fast in Virginia Beach. This doesn’t include the surprise variable when a leaky roof drips in your mind during Thanksgiving diner along with your whole family present.

Many home inspectors provide yearly inspections or regularly scheduled maintenance inspections for all those homeowners who cannot do some of those necessary chores or choose to not! Should you encounter one of these classes be certain that you have a skilled contractor perform a comprehensive checkup on your house to prevent difficulties.

EVERYDAY MAINTENANCE GUIDE

Things you can/should do to frequently to conserve your property!

Roof

• Assess the loft space after it rains for indications of leaks.
• All roofs need regular maintenance; they ought to be inspected at least annually. Do a thorough visual examination together with binoculars if you’re unable to physically walk in your own roof
• Assess all flashing; it’s where most problems occur. Vent pipes possess flashing and rubber boots that have a shorter lifetime than the general roof and might require replacement. Make sure you check at these carefully.
• Maintain gutters clean!
• Trees hanging over your roof could offer a pathway for both squirrels and other critters to go into. Reduce as needed (urge at a six-foot clearance). Trees which contact the roof are a substantial issue; they’ll damage the roofing and needs to be trimmed back instantly.
• Exterior
• Concentrate on any regions of weathered or missing caulking (fix or replace as necessary ) and paint all of the siding joints and where siding matches trimming as needed. This maintenance keeps your siding weatherproof and lets it drain as planned.
• Have a better look at all window & door caulking and painting, and fix as needed.
• Should you power wash your house, don’t power wash windows/doors. Most manufacturers don’t recommend that, so just do the brand.
• Assess bolts on almost any handrail/guardrails and tighten as necessary. Assess any measures to be sure they are secure and fix as needed.
• Construction & Foundation
• Appropriate grading is crucial to maintain the”toes” of your home sterile. The floor should slope away for 6-10 feet. Examine the crawlspace for water.
• Foundation vents normally should stay open but can be closed during extreme cold spells. But they ought to be opened when temperatures are always above freezing. This helps prevent condensation and extra moisture from the crawl space.
• Assess and clean the drainage system for crawl space as required to make sure it functions correctly.
• Have your system checked by an expert every heating system and cooling system for efficient functioning and to help prolong the lifetime of your apparatus. (Not urge for DIYer)
• sterile condensate lines and check monthly for congestion during the heating system.
• Assess insulation annual (crawlspace and attic) to see whether it’s moved or dropped.
• Pipes
• Drain 1 gallon of water, both the spring and fall at the foundation of the water heater to assist remove sediment.
• Check all taps and drains for indications of leaks.
• Electric
• Interior
• Clean and remove any mold on bath and shower partitions when it happens.
• Don’t shut off any ports in chambers out of the HVAC system unless it’s another system.
• If you notice condensation on insulated windows it’s an indication of high humidity along with the origin that has to be identified.
• Assess all hand/guard railings for any indications they might require repair or trimming.
• Vacuum any heating or cooling.
• Kitchen

1. Inspect washer hoses/connections for cracks or wear and replace as necessary
2. Assess drier exhaust vents for both link and congestion and clean as necessary.
3. Garage
4. Oil and check all moving components on garage doors and paths.