Seasonal maintenance repairs improvements House

Maintenance, repairs and home improvements

As a new owner , you are responsible for maintaining your home . We can separate this task into three groups: seasonal maintenance , repairs and improvements.

List of home maintenance

Each of these is important for the care of the house. The seasonal or preventive maintenance can be defined as basic household maintenance that should be done once a year . Consider preparing a maintenance schedule to keep track of the dates when the various tasks to do basic maintenance each year.

It is advisable to include in the table tasks as inspecting the roof, siding , foundations, walls and cooling systems . Use the ” Worksheet: home maintenance list ” to keep track of the inspection. Note that this list includes common features in the homes of the Southwest. If you live elsewhere in the U.S. , there are probably other maintenance tasks that should be added to the list.

The maintenance repairs are different . This type of work is when something breaks or stops working . For example , leaky faucets, broken water pipes or heaters that fail, a cooling system that does not produce cold air or something as simple as a blown bulb or bulb . With any home repair , no matter how simple it may seem, consult a guide or manual before starting the repair. For information on specific tasks , see the module ‘s ” Home Maintenance ” .

As the owner of your home , you may consider doing yourself any of the repairs , which can save you money on costly repairs . It also has the convenience of being able to schedule when to repair instead of waiting until someone can come to your home to do it. Perform simple repairs will help you gain confidence and basic skills before embarking on bigger jobs . In addition, these larger jobs can often be avoided if you do the repairs before needed.

Evaporative coolers are a good example of how a small repair can turn into something more serious. It is common that these cooling systems begin to leak small amounts of water . Many times this is because a hose can be changed. If the problem is solved immediately , replace the defective part can cost as little as $ 1. But if the leak is not repaired immediately and left so for quite some time , this small water leak can cause serious damage to the roof. The required repairs may be somewhat less as having to replace some shingles or something more expensive , like having to replace the entire roof. This kind of damage is costly and can be avoided by replacing the hose.

Make your own repairs is not always the best option. If you try to make too big a job , could worsen the problem. Or , even worse , could create a dangerous situation for your family . It may also invest a lot of time trying to fix something and at the end , the device may still not work . Knowing when is the right time to call a technician or professional is different for each person , since each has a different level of knowledge . If you have never gone up to the roof and repaired an evaporative cooler , maybe not a good idea to try. Consider hiring a professional or ask for help from a friend or neighbor for help the first few times until you feel more confident that you can do the repair on your own .

The last category of home maintenance are improvements . The improvements relate to any work you want to do to your home to increase its value or quality of life , such as making changes to the kitchen or bathroom. The home improvements can also increase their market appeal . Usually, the owners hire professionals to take charge of making the improvements and the cost can be substantial depending on the improvements to be made .