Checklist to take care of your home

If you just got the house of your dreams or have invested in a rental home, maintenance is something you can not avoid. Every home requires maintenance that is mostly not taken seriously by homeowners. Regular care and cleaning procedures are needed to keep your house in good condition. Always try to be proactive instead of being reactive when an issue occurs. The old proverb “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” holds, especially home maintenance. It is much easier to perform preventative maintenance instead of waiting until something breaks and then scrambling to get it fixed. It will eventually help make sure your home runs smoothly throughout the years and minimise the number of repairs or insurance claims you make over time.

Preparing ahead of time for the changing seasons is a fantastic way to save money and avoid the stress of unexpected or avoidable house repairs. You’ll avoid problems in the first place and won’t have to compete for tradespeople who are in high demand seasonally, leading to increased rates.

Owning and caring for home entails many responsibilities, and a home maintenance checklist is an answer to all of your concerns. Graana.com has broken down home care activities into weekly, monthly, and annual checklists to make this daunting task more bearable. The elements of your home will essentially decide your  home maintenance regimen; however, it may contain any of the following tasks: 

Weekly Home Maintenance

• Vacuum all of your carpets thoroughly. Alternatively, mop them thoroughly with a large dust mop if you have hardwood floors.
• Set aside 30 minutes to execute one little yard activity, such as trimming a tree or shrub, painting a mailbox, or blowing leaves and trash from a garden path or sidewalk.
• With a Zip-It gadget, clean a clogged shower or sink drain.
• Spend some time refilling or repairing tile grout that has become dirty or damaged.
• Remove mineral deposits from a showerhead.
• Every week, clean the outside of all appliances and the inside of one. For example, if you clean out your refrigerator this week, run a cleaning tablet through your dishwasher the following week and clean out your dryer the week after that.

Monthly Maintenance

• Clean and replace the furnace filter as needed. This will aid in the effective operation of your furnace, lowering your utility expenditures.
• Dust light fixtures and wipe off baseboards after polishing wood furniture.
• Ensure your smoke, and carbon monoxide detectors work and don’t require new batteries. Make sure your fire extinguisher is adequately charged if you have one.
• Find issues in the house’s exterior, e.g. loosened shingles or broken slides, extra grown vegetation. Take note to fix these issues.

Annual maintenance

Make a schedule for these annual tasks that makes sense to you. You can schedule them on a seasonal basis or only one or two days per year to complete them. Here are a few of them :

• Cleaning and organising your garage, basement, or attic is a good idea. No one enjoys performing this as a chore, but it feels great once it’s completed! Plus, you’re bound to come across some long-forgotten treasures that you may donate to charity or sell online.
• Let the sunshine in by cleaning the windows and window screens. While this task is most commonly completed in the spring, it can be completed at any time of the year.
• Take on one significant outdoor improvement project per year and commit to finishing it in a day or two.
• Install a fence, refinish a huge deck, patch up an asphalt or concrete driveway, or put up raised vegetable beds, for instance.
• Clean out the gutters, look under the eaves, cut back any encroaching trees or bushes, and place wire grates in any openings to keep pests out.
• Refresh one of your home’s rooms. Choose a room and give it a makeover. Repaint it, change the drapes, rearrange the furniture, and add plants and knickknacks to give it a new look. If you do one room per year, your entire house will look fantastic in a few years!

With a small expenditure of time and energy, you may have a beautifully kept home by following this checklist.