Owning a home is a major investment. Besides being a roof over your head, a home is an opportunity to express yourself with the furniture you choose and the general way you maintain it. Regular home maintenance can provide many benefits from simply keeping your environment tidy to even increasing the resale value of your home. Explore the ins and outs of home maintenance, including the benefits and what to include in your checklist.

What is Home Maintenance?

Home maintenance refers to the regular care of your home, including preventative maintenance and the replacement of parts in the home in order to prevent major repairs from being needed in the future. Learning to build a seasonal and annual home maintenance checklist can help a homeowner handle crucial maintenance before problems devolve into more serious issues.

Whether your home is new or old, it will require both internal and external maintenance on a regular basis to ensure everything is both safe and functional. From seasonal maintenance to yearly maintenance, it’s important to not neglect necessary tasks so that you can extend your home’s life.

5 Key Benefits of Home Maintenance

There are a number of key benefits to maintaining your home that make it such an important job. To add perspective, the average water heater has a lifespan of 8-12 years, with an installation cost for new water heaters falling between $1,000-$3,000. However, the repair cost for water heaters typically only costs a couple hundred dollars.

By maintaining your water heater, and only spending a couple hundred, you can push back the amount of time until a replacement costing thousands of dollars is necessary. This is just one example of the benefits of regular home maintenance. Below are five primary benefits to consider for home maintenance:

You will save money in the long run

As outlined in the above example, spending a small amount of money on maintenance can push back the time until major expenses are needed. Going further, as another example, if your home is in the middle of a major storm zone and the roof suffers damage, repairing it may only cost a couple hundred. However, installing a new roof can cost between $8,000-$15,000 if your roof fails due to not being repaired.

You reduce the risk of major issues or health hazards

Failing to handle maintenance in your home can result in serious health hazards. Water damage, as perspective, can lead to mold and harmful bacteria developing in dark areas of the home, turning into a health risk. By simply handling maintenance, you can reduce the likelihood of these risk from emerging.

The resale value of your home can go up

Taking care of home maintenance has more than just health benefits. By keeping your home up to date, you can increase its resale value should you ever decide to put it on the market. In fact, simple maintenance can increase a home’s resale value by 1% yearly, meaning it’s worth tackling these important tasks.

You will feel better about the look of your home

Simply put, a clean home can lead to a happier mind. Simply renovating your home and keeping it exactly the way you love it will make you feel better about the roof over your head. Don’t neglect the interior and exterior of your home after you make the purchase.

You will reduce any stress you have involving the repairs

Home repair can be stressful due to the time commitment and overall cost. Maintenance tasks are far less time consuming and, for the lower cost, can reduce the stress you have about potential repairs being necessary.

Building an Annual Home Maintenance Checklist

To create an effective annual home maintenance checklist, you need to divide up your tasks on a seasonal basis. This will allow you to segment your tasks into the most necessary based on season. Let’s dive into some of the more important items:

Spring

• Spring is the best time to handle cleanup around the yard, including raking up remaining leave, inspecting damage to outdoor plumbing, and laying down mulch
• Check for damage to the concrete surrounding your home or the gutters on your roof
• Wash your home to remove any grime that came from the rain or snow
• Inspect your pool and the surrounding equipment

Summer

• Water all the plants and your lawn to keep things looking green
• Inspect your sprinkler system for any damage
• Check your A/C system to ensure its operational and ready for heatwaves
• As the weather gets warm, bugs may seek reprieve from the heat so take care to seal any places they could get inside

Fall

• Inspect your heating system to be sure you will have hot water and heat as the weather gets cold
• Inspect your gutters to prepare for the rainfall or snow that may be coming
• Perform the annual checkup on your water heater and the boiler
• Get your chimney cleaned and inspected

Winter

• Get a snow blower so that you don’t end up trapped in your home
• Change filters on your heating system and keep an eye on water levels in your boiler
• Insulate your plumbing so that water doesn’t freeze in your pipes
• Check your generator and have it serviced before the cold weather begins to hit

If home maintenance tasks seem beyond your skill level, don’t hesitate to reach out to a certified professional who can handle the tasks on your behalf.

Reach out to a specialist for extensive home repairs

Your home is an extension of yourself, which is why ensuring you maintain it is all the more important. Beyond the above checklist items above, there are certain home maintenance tasks that will require the assistance of a professional. Despite the cost associated with this maintenance, you will be saving money in the long run by preventing major repairs from being needed in the future. Don’t hesitate to reach out to a home maintenance specialist for crucial tasks when it’s time to handle them.