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Simple Home Maintenance
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CNN Money’s Real Estate section ran a bit two days ago about some simple home maintenance tips, broken down by month, that could help boost your homes value and bring you a bit of mental security. The tips are very easy in most cases and a lot of them are simple common sense but sometimes we need a bit of a reminder to get us to actually do the common sense things we know we should. In a lot of cases, the monthly breakdown isn’t necessary but for a lot of the “once a year” type tasks it helps to just think about doing them in every February or something like that.
Take a home inventory, including pictures, and store it off site.
I can’t stress this enough! With digital cameras, you should be able to take a quick home inventory, store it on something, and throw it in a lock box somewhere. It’s usually suggested you store it off-site in case of fire (or get a fire-proof safe) or flooding. I’ve discussed home inventory strategies in the past and the comments from that post contain a lot of good ideas.
Remember to clean out filters, coils, etc
The vacuum condenser coils behind your refrigerator need to be cleaned off once a year to ensure maximum efficiency. The same goes for various filters around your house such as for your HVAC system. Keeping things clean keeps you healthy and your appliances running efficiently.
Plug up holes, fix cracked moulding/grout, etc
Wait until warmer weather (caulk and such need a minimum temp to seal correctly) to fix up all the cracks and holes created by freezing water in the winter. It’s said that the average house has enough cracks to equal an open window one foot by one foot.
Get checkups for your heating and AC units
Check the heating before winter and the AC before the summer and servicing could improve efficiency.
Review your emergency plans/preparation
Be it a fire escape plan, your disaster kit, your emergency documents, or anything else you need – ensure that it’s up to date and you know where it is. It’s good to keep all your important documents in one place but remember to keep things neat so you can grab it in an emergency. Also make sure all your important documents make it into the folder/box so you don’t miss something in the event of an emergency.
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Great tips! Thanks for posting.
Yes, thanks for the link–I’ve bookmarked the list.