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Taking care of our properties is a must if we don’t want to end up replacing everything that we own. If you look at the financial statistics, you will see that investing a little bit of money every year is going to be less expensive than doing major changes every five to ten years.
It is better to preserve your property than to replace it, and if you are not sure what you can do to achieve it, you’ve come to the right place.
Here, we are going to list some essential home maintenance tips that will save you money. Keep in mind that every household is different, so you may want to twitch some of these things to fit your exact needs.
1. Regularly examine for leaks and pay attention to your bills
We tend to notice leaks in our residence only when we get our socks wet, and this is a huge problem for pretty much every homeowner. We forget about our pipes and water system, and we think that once we’ve installed a new pipe, we can forget about it for decades to come.
Even though this is somewhat true, it does not mean that unfortunate things cannot happen. You should inspect for leaks everywhere there is a water connection, including your bathroom, kitchen, and even backyard and garage.
Check to see if there is mold, mildew, and water, and don’t forget to examine your basement. In case there is even the smallest leak, you should reach out to a professional.
On the same note, make sure you are aware of how much you are spending every month on utility bills, and if you see a spike somewhere, without knowing what could’ve caused it, react on time.
Have your household inspected for issues, and inspect the appliances you have, along with your piping system. This will save you a lot of money in the long run, because things like these will cause serious damage the longer you ignore them.
2. Insulate your home
No matter how amazing your cooling or heating system is, they are going to be to no avail if you don’t have proper insulation. You need to invest in it because it will help you decrease your bills, and it will prevent moisture from getting into your household and staying there.
By investing in insulation, you will extend the life of everything you have in your home, starting from the foundation, walls, floors, and even furniture and appliances.
When there is a draft, or when rainwater can penetrate your residence, it can easily lead to mold and with that, health issues.
Know that with proper insulation, you will also protect your household from most pests, and you will sleep soundly knowing that your bills are going to decrease and your family is going to be safe.
In addition to all this, with the proper insulation, in case there is a fire in your home, the damage is going to be smaller and you will have more time to react and get to safety.
3. Have your place inspected for termites regularly
No one wants to believe that their residence is infested by termites, and we all think that those things happen to other people who don’t really care about their properties. Pests don’t discriminate, and they choose to nest anywhere that they can.
They look for nice environments where they can eat and just stay happy. All these things are not good for you, and if you have any wooden surfaces, including floors, doors, windows, and even wooden beams in your house, they all may get infested by termites.
To save yourself a lot of money on fixing everything up and replacing most of your household, you need to get your place inspected regularly. But what does that mean?
If you want to know when to schedule these inspections, and if you want to know how often they should be done, visit https://pestworks.com.au/how-often-should-you-have-a-termite-inspection/.
4. Check your alarm system
We are all aware that we need alarms for our households, and most of us have them. We need the smoke alarm to make sure that our family is protected, and we rely on these units every day.
The big problem is that we just remember that we need alarms before we invest in them, and unless we hear the beeping sound that the battery is close to dying, we don’t remember to inspect the system.
If you want to make sure that your home and everyone inside it are always safe and protected, you need to check your alarm system. You need to test the batteries and make sure they are working, no matter what the warranty says.
Doing these inspections can help you react on time, get the batteries changed before it is too late, and make sure that no matter what happens, the insurance policy will cover your expenses even if the worst happens.
5. Know when its time to change your appliances
When we purchase new appliances, no matter if that is a new AC, TV, microwave, or washing machine, we try to get the best that we can afford. More often than not, we invest in items that are going to last for a long time, and we hope that they will do their function for years, and maybe even decades to come.
Yes, some appliances can last for more than a decade, but you need to think do you really want to have such units in your household? When technology advances, we are faced with better things that consume less electricity, water, and that work better and faster.
If your AC or heater needs hours to change the temperature in your residence, and if your dishwasher spikes your water and power bills, chances are, you need to upgrade to better models. All of these things are investments, but with time, you are going to get all that cash back by saving on your utility bills.
There are a lot of other smaller and bigger things you can do to preserve your home and save cash, so make sure you create a list and go through it regularly. Starting from examining your roof, basement, doors, and windows, up to changing the filters and inspecting your plumbing system, all the things are going to make a difference.
It is better to spend a few days per year doing these things than to wait for the worst to happen and end up paying tens of thousands on repairs.