Home maintenance to plan and budget for today

Maintenance in and around your home is a never-ending responsibility. With the proper planning and budgeting early in the year, you can make things easier. Remember to keep the weather during the different seasons in mind. Call around for some prices on the things you’ll need and budget accordingly lest the cost of maintenance catches you unaware and at a disadvantage. Also, decide what you will do yourself and what you will have experts do for you. We have put together some of the most important home maintenance tasks that should be in your plans and in your budget. If you stick to your regular maintenance plans, you should be able to avoid most problems that can suddenly plague a home. It does go without saying, however, that unexpected things like a geyser bursting can still happen and this should be seen to immediately.

 

Regular tasks

Several tasks that should be done quite regularly. You can decide whether it is monthly or every second month depending on your house, environment, and living style.

 

Paint touch-ups

The aesthetic of a home can quickly degrade if there are too many cracks, peels, or chips on the paint. This is true for the interior and exterior. It is a good choice to always have a small tin of the paint you used on hand to quickly touch up any eyesores until the big paint maintenance can be done. Our tip is to purchase an additional small tin when you get the supplies to paint your entire house and store it. That way, you don’t need to worry about having to colour match again or maybe forgetting what colour you originally bought.

 

Gutter cleaning

This is another maintenance task that should be done in much more detail at some point. For the monthly task, just identify the areas in your gutters that build up leaves and debris very quickly. This might be in corners, right under a tree branch, at the downpipe hole. These areas should be cleaned regularly to avoid blockages and gutter damage.

These are two of the most important regular maintenance tasks that you can easily do yourself. Other tasks include:

• Check for and replace faulty light bulbs
• Check all your faucets and repair any basic leaks
• Check your main electrical panel for signs of damage or water and call in experts if you see anything amiss

 

 Annual tasks

Some tasks, that we already touched on above, should be done once a year. This is where proper planning comes in because some of these tasks should be done in certain seasons and others can be done at any time.

 

Clean your gutters

We’ve already mentioned this one, but just a month or so before the rainy season starts, you should do a thorough check. Clean your entire gutter system. Make sure no downpipes are blocked. Check for any damaged gutters and have them fixed or replaced. You can opt to do the check yourself and then get a handyman to fix anything broken.

 

Electrical systems

In older homes, the electrical system might be running under your floors and the actual wiring can’t really be checked. If, however, the electrical system in your home runs in the roof, have an expert come in and do a maintenance check on it from time to time. This is to ensure that as the system gets older, it is still functioning safely and effectively. It is also to check that the wiring has not been damaged in the last year by vermin, natural events, or anything else. You might have dealt with the rat that you heard running in the roof, but it could be that it started biting through a wire. You might have fixed a leaky roof, but did you check that no lasting damage was done?

 

Check for fungus and mildew

This task should also be done before your damp weather starts. Go over the entire house, especially the damp areas like bathrooms, and check for any signs of fungus and mildew. Scrub and clean these areas vigorously and if it is necessary, you might want to consider having areas regrouted by experts every couple of years, especially if certain areas keep showing fungus or mildew issues.

Some other annual maintenance tasks include:

• Hosing down exterior walls
• Power cleaning patios and driveways
• Annual pest control as preventative measure
• Have your air conditioner inspected and cleaned
• Clean refrigerator coils
• Inspect doors and windows for damage and have them fixed
• Check your geyser and pipes
• Check and clean out the chimney
• Check the walls for cracks and water damage

 

Irregular tasks

Some maintenance tasks do not need to be done regularly, but you should factor them into your budget for every two, three, four or five years depending on what would be necessary for your home.

 

Painting

Painting your house includes the exterior (walls and roof) as well as the interior. It might not be necessary to paint the inside and outside in the same year, though. Consider having your exterior walls and roof repainted every 5 to 10 years (if no issues crop up in that time). Wood surfaces should be done every 3 to 7 years. Inside your home, rooms that don’t get used often need repainting far less often. However, bathrooms (walls and ceilings) should be done every 3 to 4 years, kitchens every 4 to 5 years and the rest of the house as you see fit and as problems (like water damage) occur.

 

If you stay on top of the maintenance tasks that need to be completed, it will be easy-peasy. What’s more, a home that is well taken care of could make it easier to sell and increase its value.

 

Get in touch with us at Karis should you be in the market.