Home Maintenance Checklist
**This post is sponsored by Homie**
Owning a home can be expensive and a lot of work. But if you break it down and work on this list monthly to maintain certain things in and with your home, it will certainly save you time, and money, for other fun projects you’d rather be doing.
If you haven’t started maintaining your home this year, now is a good time to get started, with spring cleaning and all that starting to get underway. Don’t feel overwhelmed by this list, it’s to do throughout the year so you could pick one category each month to focus on.
Roof
How is your roof holding up? It’s one thing to peer up at it when you are outside but another to actually get a ladder and climb up higher to get a better view. How are the shingles holding up? Do you live in an area that doesn’t get much rain? You can wash the shingles yourself with a regular hose, no pressure washer needed. Just a light spray will do. If you have mildew or moss, you make up a mixture of diluted bleach and water.
Refrigerator & Deep Freezer
Refrigerators have condenser coils and these are located on the bottom or back of the fridge. These coils get dusty over time. This is what happened with our refrigerator and it started making a strange noise. We tried to figure out the noise which turned out to be either the fan or condenser. I left for a trip and not too much time after that, Tony called me to say that everything in the fridge was warm. Our fridge had stopped cooling because the coils had gotten too dusty. Once he cleaned them by vacuuming them and using compressed air, the fridge started working properly again and we haven’t had a problem since.
Do you have a chest freezer in your garage? It’s a great place to store extra meat, veggies and TV dinners. Over time I notice our freezer gets ice buildup on the inside. This is not okay because it can cause loss of space, odors and ineffective sealing. It can also affect your food and make your food get frostbite. Yuck!
Hot Water Heater
I’ve learned that it is suggested to drain a water heater a couple times a year, even as often as once a month. But who does that! That is crazy often. If you have a tankless water heater, you don’t need to worry about this. I think most people - myself included - just don’t do this. But when you maintain your water heater, you’ll get quite a bit longer life out of it. Not only does it last longer, it runs more efficiently saving you money. When we start to hear a sound like rocks falling inside of the water heater, we know it’s past due. Wink. This rock falling sound is sediment. You can get this problem if you use hard or soft water but it will happen more often with hard water.
Dishwasher
I've never considered dishwasher maintenance because 99% of everywhere I've lived, I use it as a drying rack. Once in awhile I will run a cycle of dishes when Tony's used a bunch of pots and pans for cooking or baking. It's important to run the dishwasher regularly to keep it in tip top shape. Check to see if the drain needs to be unclogged. You can use an acid to carefully remove buildup. Wipe down the edges and exterior. Clean the door and seals. If your dishwasher has a filter, clean the food and grime.
Oven
This appliance is a great one to keep up on or else it'll be a real beast to clean if you wait months on end. Take advantage of your oven's self cleaning mode. But I know not every oven has this nice feature - ours doesn't!
Avoid cleaning under the knobs as squirting them with your cleaning liquid douses the electrical system. I suppose you could spray on to your rag or paper towel first and gently wipe under the knobs. You just don't want to short out your oven or worse, electrocute yourself. It's always smart to unplug anything before cleaning it and this is what I would suggest for cleaning the stove. You can make a mixture of vinegar and water which leaves everything you touch shiny and germ free. Inspect the burners. Any burner that glows brighter than the rest while cooking means that it's about to short out and should be replaced immediately.
A/C
Since my only experience with real air conditioning was in the house I grew up in, I had to turn to Google for some help with this one. The most important thing to do is replace or clean the filters. If you aren't sure where the filters are, a quick search online should pull up a diagram. Clogged filters whether with dirt or other junk, reduce the air flow and your unit won't perform as well. Check the fan motor, blades, compressor and refrigerant tubing. Just an all over look is helpful and the more you do it, the more you become familiar with how all the parts should look and be functioning. Then, if anything goes awry, you'll be able to notice and fix it yourself or call someone in to fix it.
Swamp Cooler
If you are ‘lucky’ like me, you have a swamp cooler to maintain. Something we do to keep ours in check is that my husband gets up on the roof and he will take the plastic tubes off and soak them in CLR (Calcium, Lime and Rust) remover and cleans the insides with a wire brush. He replaces the cooling pads and the filter for the pump. You can get these supplies at most hardware stores.
When it's time to move out of your home, these appliances will not be a worry to you if you've kept up on their maintenance. They'll be clean, shiny and in good condition to sell with the home or take with you to your new digs. If you are moving anywhere in Utah or to Arizona, check out using Homie and help disrupt the market of home buying and selling.
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