Image Credit: Aaron Huber from Unsplash.
Homeownership is a major responsibility. You’ll find that out the second you buy a house and realize how much work it takes to look after. A lot of this revolves around routine home maintenance tasks, many of which can be time-consuming and even complicated to do. Despite that, you’ve to put the effort into them.
For many first-time homeowners, this can feel a little overwhelming. It’s only when you’ve been doing them a while that you start getting into the groove of everything.
That begs the question as to what you should do to start off with. While some of this depends on your house itself, it doesn’t mean there aren’t a few home maintenance tasks you should focus on from the start. They could be a lot more important than you could’ve thought.
It’s worth focusing on these from as early as possible. That way, you’ll make sure your home is properly looked after from the get-go. It’s worth diving into some of the more important of these.
Why Get Your Home Maintenance Tasks Done?
Before taking a look, it’s worth going through why you should put the time and effort into home maintenance in the first place. You’ll already know it’s something you should do, but you mightn’t be exactly sure why you should. By working on it regularly, you should see more than a few benefits.
Some of the more notable, and appealing, of these are:
- Prevent Future Problems – If you’re not proactive with looking after your home, more and more problems could come up. These can cause a lot of stress and hassle when you need to deal with them, which is why it’s always worth avoiding. A proactive approach takes much less time and effort.
- Saving You Money – Speaking of future problems, these can often be expensive to address. You’ll end up needing to spend a lot more money on them than you might’ve thought, with some repairs and fixes costing an extortionate amount of money. Home maintenance helps you avoid this quite a bit.
- Keeping You Safe – Home maintenance helps to keep your home safer than you would’ve thought. It makes sure nothing breaks down and causes any risks. Unkempt electricals, for example, could pose a fire hazard in your home. By putting the effort into maintaining your home, you shouldn’t have to worry about any potential risks popping up anytime soon.
- Maintaining Home Value – The less you look after your home, the less valuable it’ll be long-term. This could mean you’re losing money through a decrease in your home value. By actually putting the time and effort into it, though, you’ll maintain your home value. It could even help you boost your home value in the long-term.
- Peace of Mind – If your home isn’t properly looked after, it could end up causing a bit of stress and anxiety. You’ll notice a few issues around the house that could cause you to worry a little, even if the issues are relatively minor. By actually looking after your home, you make sure you don’t have anything to worry about. You’ll have a lot more peace of mind going forward.
These should be more than enough to persuade most people to put the effort into maintaining their home. It can still feel like an overwhelming process, though.
Thankfully, it doesn’t need to be. It could just be a matter of focusing on the right home maintenance tasks from the start. Some of these could be more worth focusing on from the start. They’ll have much more of an impact than you’d think and help you properly maintain your home.
Seven of these stand out because of how much they can help you look after your house.
Home Maintenance Tasks: 7 to Do Often
1. Check the Roof
Countless people overlook their roof when they’re doing any kind of home maintenance. That’s despite how important it is to keep your home safe and functional. It deals with a lot of wear and tear during an average year, and it’s natural for the roof to develop problems because of that.
It’s worth checking your roof every few weeks to see if there’s any sign of damage. Even minor issues like broken shingles could get larger and larger in time. By proactively checking everything, you make sure roof problems don’t get too large. You’ll keep your home safer because of it.
2. Inspect the Drains
Your drains are one of the more important areas to look after in your home. If you don’t, you risk flood damage and similar issues. It’s worth inspecting them regularly to see if there are any leaks, blockages, or other problems. This shouldn’t have to take you too much time or effort.
If you do find any issues, it’s worth getting them sorted out as quickly as you can. Drain cleaning, unblocking, and similar services can all be more than worth it. While that means investing in it now, it’ll save you a lot of time and hassle later on.
3. Flush Your Water Heater
Most people don’t pay much attention to their water heater until an issue turns up. These can be a hassle to deal with, which is why they’re worth preventing as much as you can. This doesn’t always have to mean getting it serviced. Instead, it could just mean spending a little time on it.
Flushing your water heater clears out anything that builds up in it over time. This debris could cause hot patches later on, which damages the water heater. By flushing it out every few months, you make sure that doesn’t have a chance to happen.
4. Clean Out the Gutters
The gutters can be one of the more overlooked parts of the home, despite how important they can be. They help to prevent water damage in various parts of your house, which is why they need some time and attention. Thankfully, you don’t need to put a lot of constant effort into them.
Instead, it’s just a matter of cleaning them out every so often. It helps prevent quite a few blockages, which can then lead to water damage around your home. You’ve no reason not to put a little time and effort into cleaning it out, especially during the autumn and winter months.
5. Seal Cracks & Gaps
Cracks and gaps in various areas around your home, but they could cause more issues than you might’ve thought. They’re a way for bugs and other pests to get into your house, and they could even cause a draft. That’ll end up having an impact on your energy bills going forward.
It’s worth dealing with them as soon as you notice them. Thankfully, this doesn’t have to take a lot of time or effort. All you’ll need is some sealant and a bit of elbow grease. You’ll have them filled in before you know it.
6. Replace the HVAC Filters
Your HVAC unit is put through its paces every year, which is why it’s always worth some time and attention. That usually means you have to get it serviced every once in a while. You’ll already know that, but it’s easy to overlook a few other tasks related to your HVAC system.
You’ll need to think about the filters, too. These need more regular attention than you’d think, as dirt and dust builds up in them relatively quickly. If left unchecked, it could pose a fire risk. By replacing the filters regularly, you’ll end up avoiding that.
7. Inspect the Foundation
Your home’s foundation is one of the most important areas to focus on. Your entire house rests on it, after all. If it develops any problems, it poses the risk of your home coming down. It’s worth being as proactive as possible with your foundation because of that. It’s worth taking the time to inspect it regularly.
Look for any cracks or other signs of damage. While these can seem relatively minor at the start, they’ll end up getting worse and worse. This puts your home in more and more danger, so you’re much better off getting them sorted as soon as you can.
Wrapping Up
Once you buy a home, you’ll quickly realize how much time and effort you need to put into looking after it. It’s easy to feel a little overwhelmed by the process, especially when it’s your first time owning a house. You’ll have countless home maintenance tasks you need to sort out, which is why it can feel a little stressful.
That doesn’t mean you need to settle for being overwhelmed the entire time, though. You’ll just need to know what you’re doing from the start.
By focusing on certain home maintenance tasks from the start, you shouldn’t have much to worry about. While you’ll still need to put the time and effort into them, it shouldn’t be nearly as stressful as you’d think. With the benefits they offer for your home, there’s no reason not to put the time into them.
