If you’ve ever forgotten to change your furnace filter, I can promise that you’re not the only one. It’s easy to forget to do those monthly or seasonal maintenance tasks in the midst of finding time to try and perform the daily and weekly chores. Especially if you have a busy life, or if you’re aging and find that you can’t, or shouldn’t, do it all anymore. We’ve identified the 10 most common and put together a list for you.
1. Fix a Leaky Faucet. Drip. Drip. Drip. Each time a faucet is faulty it can quickly cost you hundreds in your monthly water bills. Stop the drip fast and fix your leaky faucets as soon as they start.
2. Drain the Hot Water Heater, at least once a year. If you have hard water in your area, experts recommend that you drain it even more often than that. Overtime sediment can build up in your hot water heater that can cause it to malfunction, and cause scalding. Draining the heater removes the build-up and keeps your hot water heater working for longer. A handyman can do this.
3. Caulk your Drafty Windows. To prevent air leaks that can raise your heating and cooling bills, consider caulking your windows. Do it both on the outside and inside of the home. Make sure you choose the right caulk and that you avoid any weep holes that allow water to drip and avoid making its way inside or causing mold issues down the road.
4. Change the Furnace Air Filter. A filter does as it advertises. It removes or filters advertisements from the air that’s running through the home. If the filter isn’t changed often enough it will block the airflow and your system will have to work harder to push the air through.
5. Fix the Running Toilet. Like the leaky faucet, a running toilet can rack up a hefty water bill. Make sure that the toilet’s flapper seal is working and replace it if it’s not. If the flapper is not your issue, consider turning off the water supply and flushing the remaining water out of the tank and proceeding from there.
6. Check the Fire Extinguisher. You might have heard the saying never put a grease fire out with water, well we like to say never have a kitchen without a fire extinguisher. Make sure that your fire extinguisher is available at a moment’s notice and keep yourself up to date on how to use it so that you don’t panic in an emergency situation.
7. Clean the Sink Aerators. Does your sink ever seem to sputter on you, or is the stream a fraction of what it once was? Don’t replace the faucet, but check on your faucet aerator. Changes are you might just need to clean it or replace it and the part on average runs less than 10 dollars and is easy to change with no prior experience.
8. Check Smoke and CO2 Detectors. Just like checking your fire extinguisher when and if disaster hits you want to be prepared. Make sure that batteries are always changed in your various detectors in your home so if they beep at you, you’re able to hear it.
9. WD-40. WD-40 is for more than a squeaky door hinge, although certainly you can use it for such. WD-40 can review sticky residue from old paneling, and keeps machine parts moving smoothly, polishes brass finishes and much more. Using WD-40 around your house can help keep things in tip top shape.
10. Tighten Screws on Furniture. This is often something that we forget to do until your chair is wobbly enough to notice. At least once a year you should tighten your screws on your furniture to keep them strong and together. For things that you move more often, such as chairs, tighten the screws every 6 months. This is because repeated use will loosen screws faster than a table that’s moved very few times a year.
These are only 10 of the most common things to slip from your mind. TruBlue offers a monthly or quarterly subscription House Care Plus, where we can complete these tasks and more for you so that your house keeps running at tip top shape. Because let’s be honest, when was the last time you drained your water heater?
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