There are many benefits to maintaining your house. First, it will increase its useful life. Hence, not only will you and your family be able to live inside it but also your grandchildren and other future generations to come. Second, well-maintained property is more valuable in the market. If you ever intend on selling, the profit you are making will be maximized. Finally, proper maintenance is the number one rule to prevent costly damages from happening and keep yourself and your loved ones safe at all times.
With that in mind, let us look at six simple and effective ways to maintain your home.
Take Care of the Roof
Aside from walls and structural columns, few things are more important to a house than its roof. Yet, many of us neglect this area of our property due to laziness or the simple fact that since we cannot see it that much, it oftentimes fails to make its presence in our memory.
If you want your house to stand the ravages of time as well as the elements, a great idea would be to look into polyvinyl chloride (PVC) corrugated plastic sheets. Aside from being clear and lightweight, they are also a cost-effective option for residential projects requiring durable yet affordable roofing materials.
Proper Insulation
The United States is located at a latitude of almost 40 degrees north. As such, it is close to 20 degrees north of the Tropic of Cancer. If you remember your eighth-grade geography class, you will probably recall that all nations north and south of the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn have a set of four distinctive seasons. The result of this is extreme temperatures, both hot and cold, during the Summer and Winter.
If you want to save money on your electricity bill from heaters and air conditioning systems, your best bet would be to insulate the walls and ceiling of your property. As you might know, insulation is an affordable temperature control mechanism that is easy to put in place and maintain.
Pest Control
Having a pest problem is something nobody wants at home. Whether it is ants, mosquitos, rodents, flies, or fleas, pests not only damage wood and other structures and furniture, but they also bring along with them an environment of uncleanliness and disease. They are especially dangerous to children and older people whose immune systems are not as strong or developed as adults.
There are two ways for you to deal with pests. The first one is to get your phonebook, find the nearest pest control business around you, and give them a call. Still, a better way to tackle this problem would be to prevent the infection from ever happening in the first place.
HVAC Ducts
In simple terms, HVAC ducts are the pipes responsible for the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems in your residential or business property. They are an integral part of any house or apartment.
Problems with HVAC ducts usually occur in older homes, houses close to the ocean, and buildings subject to strong winds, storms, hurricanes, and other natural elements. They often include holes, poor connections, and, similar to walls and ceilings, a lack of insulation.
As always, the key lies in proper maintenance and cleaning. The more attention you pay to these systems, the more money you will be saving long-term.
General Cleaning
The number of times you clean your house is up to you. If you want to spend an hour every day sweeping and mopping the floors, dusting tables and other furniture, and wiping the windows, you can go right ahead. On the other hand, if cleaning is something you wouldn’t do unless you were held at gunpoint, that is also your decision.
Still, remember that the longer you leave your house unattended, the longer it will take you to clean it once you decide to. Also, houses that are not clean and tidy tend to grow old much faster than those properly kept.
Paint Jobs
The eye test never lies. When you think that something needs to either be fixed or replaced, it probably does. If there are obvious stains on your walls or scratches you can no longer cover with family pictures and paper drawings from your children, it could be a good time to give your interiors a paint makeover.
As a rule of thumb, the inside of your house should probably be painted every five to ten years and the outside every two or three. It all depends on the materials you are painting over and how fast or slow the paint on them fades.
As we have seen, there are plenty of ways to maintain your house. The more careful you are about them, the more benefits you will reap, and the more enjoyable your home life will be.
