Maintenance Tips For New Homeowners
When you find yourself at a place in life where you own your first home, there are several things going on all at once. The excitement of owning a new property, the whirlwind of paperwork you just went through, and the exhaustion of the whole process finally being over are only the beginning of home ownership.
Once you’re living in your new purchase, you’ll have to work hard to maintain its integrity. Check out a brief look into some helpful home maintenance tips aimed towards those who are new to home ownership, and start planning your maintenance schedule today.
Always consider the exterior
Maintaining your home doesn’t always have to do with what is on the interior of the house. There’s plenty that needs to be done to maintain the exterior of your home as well.
Besides regular activities like mowing the lawn and trimming the bushes, you may also need to keep up with maintenance on a wrought iron fence.
Check the quality of the roofing and shingles. Clean out your gutters and downspouts once per year, and pay attention to the repair of your chimney.
Check the HVAC filters
Your home’s heating and air conditioning unit is a very expensive piece of equipment. It’s best for your pockets that you take the necessary steps to maintain the unit, so you don’t have to foot the bill for a new one for many years.
If you have pets in your home or kids with allergies, you’ll need to change your HVAC filter more often, but it’s typically fine to change it once per month. If it’s just you in the house, you should be fine changing the filter every three months.
Clean your refrigerator coils
Your refrigerator uses a coiling system to run the coolant through the entire unit. The coils occasionally accrue a buildup of dust, and the dust can cause your refrigerator to work harder than it should be. Take a vacuum hose to the back of the fridge on a regular basis to keep your unit working more efficiently for longer.
Clean out the dryer vent
You clean out your dryer vent on the machine itself every time you do a load of laundry. You clean out the dryer vent that leads to the outside at least once per year.
Drain the water heater
Your home’s water heater is a crucial part of running a household. It’s also expensive to purchase a new water heater, so you will want to do all you can to extend the life of your unit.
Drain your water heater once a year to get all the excess sediment out of the unit. Built-up sediment can lead to the ruin of your water heater.
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