House Maintenance Advice
House maintenance
It is apparently one of the most neglected tasks required of homeowners. I say that because 10 + years of working as an Illinois home inspector and results from over 4000 of evaluated properties fully stand behind this statement.
And there’s nothing unusual about not maintaining our homes for several months, even years. Many of us are acting this way because we simply have no time to check the problem, until it becomes necessary to check … or too annoying.
Many homeowners are not aware how critical some areas in our homes are, and how significant the impact their maintenance could have on our health and safety.
Have you by any chance been in your house attic or crawlspace lately? (believe it or not, but many people don’t even realize that there’s one) – they should be on your house maintenance priority list. Even more – you’ll find answers to several of your house maintenance problems in those two areas.
Simple misunderstanding the attic ventilation and issues with crawlspace drainage / crawlspace ventilation could create a perfect mold growing environment. Eliminating that musty smell in your house, is sometimes the answer to your allergy problems. But without looking into those areas, you won’t know …
Tip: Roof replacement is one of the more expensive house remodeling projects – check your attic before calling a roofing contractor. If it is mold contaminated, replacing sections or even entire decking might be cheaper than hiring mold remediation company – with heavy contamination this could double the cost of a roof replacement.
How about your closet light fixture? Is it maybe an old pull-chain type with an exposed incandescent light bulb? If you packed your top shelf with old, unused clothing and kids stuffed animals – see how close they are from the light bulb, it maybe just a fire away.
Do you know smoke detectors locations and of course Carbon Monoxide detectors installation requirements? Are they even functional?
They save lives and should be on top of your house maintenance punch list, even if they are the only item … well, throw a GFCI outlet next to it – it’s your priceless life, and the price for that minimum safety is so low.
House Remodeling and House Repairs
Many hazardous situations are created when the homeowner starts to perform maintenance related house repairs or remodeling without even basic or too little knowledge about what he’s doing.
Maybe it is your first personal, self executed idea, your own home remodeling project, and all you need is a little advice. Just ask – if you can’t find the information you’re looking for in my articles, contact house maintenance – it’s FREE, and I’ll get you an answer – that’s also FREE. To submit pictures with your question, use Virtual House Maintenance Help.
- Make sure that your home repairs are safe and comply with a local building code.
Can you imagine that almost every single water heater installation that I see, claimed to be performed by a homeowner has serious and hazardous safety issues.
Huge source of safety hazards are also contractors hired for house remodeling projects – they often forget that building codes change every few years. They don’t realize that something considered safe in the past or assumed as safe might be a life-threatening issue today.
- Always check the background of the professional you’re hiring for home repairs or remodeling project, ask for referrals.
Chicago real estate / new and gut-rehabbed properties issues
I personally consider current situation of Chicago new home construction and gut-rehabbed properties / conversion condos as scary and depressing. I’m not sure about other large cities, but Chicago homeowners are suffering, often without even knowing about it.
Several years of booming real estate business created enormous number of “construction companies”, often based on workers that became “the professionals” overnight.
Quality of those newly constructed homes, “professionally” gut-rehabbed properties, remodeled condos, and conversion condos declined significantly because of the huge demand – everything used to sell.
So if you recently became a homeowner and only have cosmetic issues – consider yourself lucky, because living in many of those properties without correcting serious safety hazards … well, it’s not safe.
It’s obvious that Chicago building department / code enforcement division simply couldn’t keep-up with the developers. After issuing construction permits … failed in many cases to send a building inspector to the site. This is of course based only on my home inspections … Let me know how your Chicago property is doing. For help on inspecting your property, check Chicago condo inspection manual.
- If you’re in a process of buying real estate – have it inspected before the purchase.
No matter how little of house maintenance, property repairs or home remodeling you’d ever do – make sure that it is performed properly.