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Looking for the best home maintenance tips that will keep your home in tip-top shape AND save you tons of money? Here are 5 super simple tips to maintain your home!
FREE DOWNLOAD: Home Maintenance Yearly Checklist
Maintaining the home is something that can be very easy to overlook. Often times, “out of sight, out of mind” takes over, and if the roof isn’t leaking, we probably think it’s fine. Maybe we don’t even think about it at all.
It’s not so fine when your washing machine breaks during Christmas time because the vent was clogged, and now you have to drop the funds when money is tight. Or rather, several years go by and your roof had a leak you didn’t know about, and now there’s years of mold growth that has taken over your attic and it’ll cost you $10,000+ to repair.
Some hefty repairs are inevitable, however, with these home maintenance tips, I can assure you that you will have a better idea of what is going on within the bones of your home. You’ll be able to either prevent some of these tragedies or at least better prepare for them.
This post is all about home maintenance tips.
Best Home Maintenance Tips:
1. Reverse Ceiling Fans
Changing your fan direction is something not everyone knows about, yet it can save so much money on heating and air conditioning costs. Your fan has blades that are slightly tilted. In the summer, you want the direction of the blades to circulate in a way that it pushes the air onto you for a cooling effect.
In the winter, you want the exact opposite. There is a switch on the fan centerpiece that allows you to change the direction. Changing the direction for the winter will cause the fan to lift up the air so you don’t have cool air blowing on you. This also helps to circulate the warm air that sits near the ceiling into the rest of the room, since heat rises.
Here’s a video that explains this concept:
This one simple home maintenance tip can save you sanity because it’ll keep you cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. It’ll also save you money by not having to crank up the AC so much or the heat in the winter.
Just remember to switch it back and forth. Use this home maintenance checklist to know when to switch the fans, or add a repeat reminder to your phone. Whatever works for you!
2. Check Smoke Detectors Monthly
This is pretty obvious, yet I bet most people don’t check their smoke detectors every single month. Whether it’s something you do on the first of every month, or you try to come up with a system, this should be done regularly.
The biggest was this will save you is pretty crystal clear. If you aren’t checking your smoke detectors, and one day there’s a fire and they don’t work, all of your stuff will burn and that will definitely cost you A LOT of dang money to replace. Simply put, take 5 minutes out of your month and check the stinkin smoke detectors!
Here’s a great simple video on how to properly check your smoke alarms:
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3. Check Insulation
Checking your home’s insulation can mean a few different things. Checking the weather strips on your doors, caulk around windows, insulation in walls and attics, sealing HVAC ducts, insulating your water heater.
A well-insulated home is vital to efficient home heating and cooling. If you have under-insulated parts in your home, you’re throwing away money for no reason.
Check out this article which thoroughly explains several great ways you can improve the insulation in your home.
4. Check Roof Regularly
Depending on the quality of the materials of your roof, most need to be replaced between every 10-20 years. This can typically cost roughly around $10,000 – depending on the size of your home and materials needed.
There are many things you can do to preserve the life of your roof and ensure no further internal damage is being done.
You don’t always need to hire a professional either. You can simply hop on your roof and educate yourself on what things to look for. Every few years, hiring a professional might not hurt. For those in-between years, if you learn what to look for, you can do a well enough inspection yourself.
Here is a super helpful video on how to inspect your roof:
5. Clean Appliances Thoroughly
Maintaining your household appliances is super important. Even the top-rated “energy saving” appliances can be bad on energy if they’re not being cleaning and taken care of regularly.
For example, cleaning your fridge’s coils helps to keep the exchange of heat and cold more efficient. Cleaning your dryer vent that is built-in can also help increase the efficiency of your dryer and prevent it from breaking.
This article thoroughly explains several other home appliances that need to be maintained regularly to increase their efficiency for the long term.
I’m a firm believer in the power of the compound effect. The concept is that small things, over a long period lead to big results. Following these home maintenance tips throughout each year even could end up saving you a few hundred dollars each year. It could even buy you a few years before you need to replace your roof or a super expensive appliance.
The more you take care of your home and the time and effort you put into it, the more rewarded you will feel. Our homes are our safe places. They’re where our families gather and grow and our kids are raised. They should be healthy, happy, strong and in good condition.
FREE DOWNLOAD: Home Maintenance Yearly Checklist
