Maintain Your Biggest Investment!
They teach us almost everything we need to know about life in school. The college I attended had an unlimited number of courses you could take. It was great, they taught me how to make money, how to manage it, but not how to manage my biggest investment. Since your home is one of the biggest investment you’ll make in your lifetime, they should have taught How to Maintain Your Biggest Investment.
You spend most of your life working. Working to buy a house, working to buy a car, working to pay off school, working to pay for your family’s necessities, working to pay for vacations, and working because unfortunately most of us aren’t Trust Fund Babies.
After working year after year, and saving your hard-earned money, you finally decide to purchase a beautiful home that will house your growing family. Time goes by and you realize it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be. You are responsible for every single little thing in that house. Congratulations!
If you’re a handy man, everything might come easy to you, or you already know the right people to call. If you’re everyone else, you hate when something goes wrong in your home. “Why me? Why do the God’s hate me?” You must understand that there is a theory behind all of this: you didn’t maintain your house, you neglected your home dwelling. You were too busy working.
Did your house come with instructions? Mine didn’t. Nobody thought me what to maintain in my house. I just learned as things broke or decided to not function properly anymore.
· Check your roof for leaks, water damage, mold, or anything that looks out of place.
· Check your walls for leaks, water damage, or stains.
· Check your gutters, they are probably filled with leaves, clean them.
· Check your plumbing, inside and outside of the house.
· Check your water heater, learn how it works and how to maintain it.
· Check your furnace, learn how it works and how to maintain it. Please change the filter monthly.
· Check your Central Air.
· Check your vents. Yes, clean them.
· Check your dishwasher, make sure the pipes are fine.
· Check your garbage disposal, maintain it monthly. Stop putting everything done the disposal.
· Check your washer/dryer. Gas line, drains, and electric.
· Check your refrigerator, is your ice line hooked up correct?
· Check your stove, is you gas line connected properly?
· Check your Fuse Box, make sure it was installed by a Licensed Electrician.
· Check your windows, walk around your house and make sure that they were properly installed. They need to be sealed around the edges.
· Check your outlets, walk around your house and inspect every single outlet. Do you have kids? Make sure they are covered.
· Check your sump pump, does it run/pump when it’s raining for proper drainage?
· Check your ejector pump, if you have a bathroom in your basement, you should have an ejector pump. Make sure it’s not clogged, and it’s pumping.
· Check your smoke detector, change the batteries when needed.
· Check your carbon monoxide detector, change the batteries when needed.
· Always make sure you have extra batteries around your house.
· Always make sure you have extra light bulbs around your house.
This is just a basic list. You should know how to take care of everything or have the correct person ready to tackle the job.
Your home is your biggest investment, maintain it!