Home Maintenance Tips
Consider these useful home maintenance tips to keep your home and yard looking attractive and well maintained:
• When you select your log home plan choose quality materials. For example, rot-resistant woods such as redwood, cypress or cedar, protective coats of quality paint and stainless steel fasteners help to ensure your porch will be able to withstand the elements for many years to come.
• On open decks, the accumulated water drains through the gaps in the deck boards. Flooring on a covered porch fits tightly and requires a pitch of at least ¼ inch per foot to get rid of water.
• While a big lawn is the quintessential American dream, they are very labor intensive. Reduce yard maintenance by removing part of your law and replacing it with functional, low-maintenance surfaces such as a brick patio, gravel paths or wood decking. An attractive alternative is putting in permanent landscape plants to take hours off your weekly yard maintenance schedule.
• Before you put away your lawn mower for the season, make sure it will be ready for the next season. Clean and lubricate the choke and throttle linkages, change the transaxle and engine oils, make sure the muffler has no corrosion, tighten loose bolts and replace worn pulley bearings and drive belts. Scrape the matted grass off the underside of the mower and place the tractor on wood blocks so the wheels hang free. Make sure you don’t leave any gas in the lines or the tank when you store your lawn mower for the season.
• Whether you live in a warm climate or a cold one, it is necessary to seal your driveway. Asphalt sealers will protect the pavement from becoming brittle from oxidizing in the harsh sun. Sealers also prevent water from seeping through hairline cracks and reaching the base, which causes deterioration almost as serious as the damage caused by cycles of freezing and thawing.
• To keep pesky rodents out of your home, keep the garage clean. Store birdseed and pet food in hard, sealed plastic containers. Relocate blankets, shoes and other potential cozy home sites. Mice can squeeze through a hole the size of a dime so plug gaps around pipes with coarse steel wool and caulk over it.
• The least expensive roofing materials are fiberglass and asphalt shingles, which are fairly easy to install. Manufacturers guarantee their products for 15 to 25 years and the heavier the shingle, the better.
• A great benefit of aluminum siding is that it requires less maintenance than wood siding and the material holds paint well so it doesn’t need to be repainted often. A drawback of aluminum siding is that it dents if a rock hits it or if you drop your ladder on it. Make sure to use ladder standoffs or cushions to avoid denting your aluminum siding.
• Use warm days to repair shingles made of fiberglass or asphalt because they will be pliable. It is difficult to work with cold, stiff shingles that can easily be damaged. Plan to do this work on a sunny fall day or wait for late spring.
• Use plastic mesh or wire to cover your gutters and minimize the debris that clogs your drains so your gutters don’t overflow and damage the exterior of your house.
• Installing engineered wood siding is much easier and less expensive than using real wood siding. Engineered wood siding is lighter weight and has advancements that make it simpler to install. You can purchase engineered wood pre-primed and ready to paint or pre-finished in a variety of options to cut down labor and field expenses.
• The outdoor faucets mounted on the side of your house can freeze during cold weather and cause pipes to burst. Before the first freeze, drain outdoor faucets by shutting off the water supply to the faucet and then opening the faucet to drain water trapped between the shut-off valve and the faucet. You can also choose the alternative of having a freeze-proof spigot put in when you build your log home plan or conventional style home.
• Instead of grabbing a plunger and towels when the toilet overflows, reach for the shut-off valve at the base of the toilet. This valve closes off the water supply so you can handle the clog.
• Kitchen counters run a close second to your floors with regard to how much punishment they endure everyday. When you select your small log home plan choose your counter materials carefully. Plastic tops can be moderately priced laminate to pricey solid acrylic that resembles granite or marble. Hardwood inserts and counters are the gourmet chef’s favorite for pounding, slicing and chopping. Counters with a hard surface include granite, tile, synthetic marble, organic glass and stainless steel; and all of them are heat and scratch proof surfaces with decorating appeal.
• Rotate and flip your mattress to keep it from sagging and to increase its lifespan.
Keeping these maintenance tips in mind when you choose your log home floor plan or conventional design will keep your new house functional and attractive for years of enjoyment.
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