3 Important Home Maintenance Projects That Get Overlooked
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As home dwellers, we all know that there is ongoing home maintenance projects that need to be done, but it is human nature to not address many of them until it becomes a problem. Since my recent move, I noticed a couple of issues that came up in the house that was clearly due to lack of maintenance. Sometimes it just takes a third party, someone who didn't live in the house every day to notice that certain things just are not working right.
Be it avoidance, ignorance or just not paying attention to signs, I want to bring your attention to 3 important home maintenance projects that tend to get overlooked.
1. Gutter Cleaning. This hasn't been an issue for me per se since I live in a community where gutter cleaning is taken care of by the homeowner's association, but because they (the homeowner's association) schedule this project annually, this is something that homeowners, even renters, should have on your calendars on an annual basis. The best time to address this is right after the fall season when all the leaves drop and before the rain or snow season. It's been an extremely mild winter for us so far so it may not be a major concern yet, but you don't want to wait until the big rain or snow season to deal with emergencies. Schedule it for mid-November. In fact, if you hang lights on the exterior of your home for the holidays, it would be a great time to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. Check out this iRobot Looj Gutter Cleaning Robot to help make things easier. As a disclaimer, I have not used this tool so please do some research of your own before purchasing.
2. Drain Cleaning. Upon moving into this house, I noticed that the water in the master bathroom sink and tub were draining extremely slow. After a couple of days of "dealing" with it, I did more sleuthing than I ultimately cared to and noticed that the drains were clogged with hair and other nastiness that has accumulated over the years. Lucky for me, I happened to have two bottles of Liquid Plumbr gel in my cleaning inventory and proceeded to use them in both areas. I'll spare you the details of my trying to remove the stopper from the sink (yuck!) etc. Bottom line is hair, lint, dirt and a myriad of other things go down the drain. Over time it gets clogged. It is good practice to use a drain cleaning solution like Liquid Plumbr to clear things out every so often. I have since purchased a large bottle of this solution and will be using it every other month to keep things flowing. I recommend that you do the same.
3. Dryer Vent Cleaning. This was the most interesting of all the home concerns. I noticed that the washing machine did not wring the clothes out very well and it did take an extremely long time for the clothes to actually dry (we're talking over an hour per load)! I attributed it to the washing machine not doing it's job well, but when the units were inspected, it turned out that it was the dryer vent that was completely clogged. Long story short, a tool was used to push all the lint out of the vent and I was told that BAGS of lint came flying out. It was "snowing" lint! Can you imagine? I wasn't here to see it, but I'm just glad I brought this up and we avoided a house fire. Plus, I'm sure I'm saving myself quite a bit on the electric bill as a result. Just cleaning the lint from the lint trap is not enough. There is a lot that gets caught deeper in the hose. I can imagine this is an even bigger concern for homes with hairy pets. If you haven't addressed this and my guess is you have not, I would highly recommend you take some time as soon as possible to look into this. It just so happened that I saw this infomercial recently for the Lint Lizard. As a disclaimer, I have not used it, but it seems like a genius invention because it addresses this very issue. Check out the Lint Lizard to help make this project easier.
I hope you find these tips helpful. I would love to hear your thoughts on this article. Is there a home maintenance project you know of that gets overlooked? Please share so that we can all avoid dealing with emergencies that occur as a result.
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