Home Maintenance Tips

Home maintenance can be easy to put off and forget about, especially since it’s often only done twice a year.  If you’re not on top of things, however, your home can easily turn into “that house”.  Maintaining your home and property can prevent against possible insurance claims, and it also protects your home’s value.  Regular maintenance and cleaning can also improve the performance and the life of your appliances.

 

Now take a deep breath… it’s not that bad!

 

A lot of people take care of their own home and property maintenance, but if you’re not up to the task, there are plenty of companies out their who are available to assist you.

 

Here is a list of some of important tasks required for the maintenance of your home and property:

 

Exterior

• Rake and fertilize lawn
• Inspect windows and seals and clean as necessary (vinegar water works great!)
• Inspect the roof, including the shingles and chimney and general structure for leaks, damage and critters hiding about
• Clean the debris from gutters and downspouts
• Inspect exterior walls for damage and deterioration, brick and/or paint condition; siding should be cleaned and inspected
• Inspect deck for weather damage and look for rotting wood, termite damage and other critters

 

Interior

• Check smoke detectors for functionality
• Check fire extinguishers and ensure they are still valid
• Check the furnace and water heater for functionality and for leaks; flush water tank of sediment if needed
• Pull out fridge and stove and vacuum the backside and wash floors
• Inspect all plumbing under sinks, toilets and the base of each toilet for leaky wax seals
• Check the caulking around bath fixtures and plumbing
• Turn off the exterior water piping for winter to prevent freezing, breaking and flooding
• Change the forced-air furnace filter four times per year (use a hepa filter if you have pets or are sensitive to allergens)

 

There are helpful checklists that can be found online, like this one here from About.com, or if you prefer, simply set a reminder on your calendar!   The tasks can be stretched out over time, which will certainly help ease some of the stress of tackling the projects.

 

Here is a Google Calendar that was made by one of our clients:

Google Calendar Link

 

Hopefully you have found this information helpful.  If there are any other home or property maintenance tasks that you can add to our list, please feel free to share them with us at admin@costeninsurance.com.

 

Thank you,

The Costen & Associates Team

 

*Thank you to our valued client and friend, Dan Penton, for providing information for this blog post!