Your home is a huge investment. Not only does your home require monthly mortgage payments and other forms of regular maintenance, but it also entails annual maintenance to keep your home in the shape you desire. Some of these things are obvious to homeowners while others aren’t as common. Nevertheless, there are appliances and parts of your home that need to be checked annually. Continue reading to explore five areas of your home that require yearly check-ins.
1. Yard Work
The first annual check-in that’s integral to maintaining your home every year is doing yard work. The exterior of your home is just as important as the interior. Think of your exterior as the face of your home, and for many, it’s a space to spend time with your family when the weather permits. This yard work isn’t simply limited to keeping the grass and landscape maintained. It also means maintaining up-keep on things like your wooden decking, cleaning out the gutters, and keeping the porch or screened-in room well-insulated throughout changing seasons. By making sure that these areas are in great shape, you’ll be able to enjoy these outdoor areas in the best way possible once the season rolls around.
2. Deep Cleaning
Every house comes to a point where it needs a deep cleaning. This deep cleaning goes beyond your usual routine. Instead of your usual cleaning, you need to finally get to the spaces you’ve been avoiding. Go behind the refrigerator and other kitchen appliances to clean their surroundings from any cooking crumbs and other debris. While you’re doing this annual maintenance, check to make sure everything is well-maintained and intact. This is a great way to make sure that your appliances get the care they need to lengthen their lifespan instead of waiting for emergency repairs that are both costly and unexpected.
3. Furnace and HVAC System
Arguably one of the most critical parts to check every year is your HVAC system. This annual ac maintenance checkup is important because HVAC systems go through various weather patterns, which add wear and tear to the overall system. When it’s hot outside, you’re running your AC unit like crazy, and when the winter comes barreling through the furnace takes its turn.
One simple thing that needs to be replaced for a furnace to maintain good indoor air quality is a furnace filter. However, there’s much more to annual preventive maintenance that only an HVAC technician should check. By having your HVAC system checked by a qualified HVAC technician, you’ll ensure that you will catch problems before they get out of hand. This way, your air conditioner or furnace will work at maximum efficiency and last a long time compared to letting expensive complications pile up.
4. Interior Updates
Once all of your hard work is completed in other parts of the home, you want to create an interior space that feels like home to you. This might mean changing up the way it looks every single year so that you feel excited about how your home looks. Meanwhile, you also want to have ample things you can do while staying at your home during the coronavirus pandemic.
If you’re looking for hobbies for intellectuals to do within the comfort of your now well-maintained home, check out this list of leisure activities that you can utilize and possibly add every year. Pairing these new hobbies with a new piece of indoor furniture—something like a new coffee table—is a great way to liven up the space this year. At this new coffee table, you can play your new board game, chess, or a puzzle which is also important to creating the quality of life that you love for your home.
5. Dryer Maintenance
It’s reported that there are about 15,000 fires every year from dryers. With this fact in mind, it’s worth cleaning your dryer vent. Your dryer exhaust vent builds up lint and other debris from drying clothes over time. If you notice that you’re having to run your clothes in the dryer even longer than normal, then this is a sign you have to clean your dryer vent. An annual checkup on this part of the dryer is another great way to push your dryer system’s efficiency and keep your family safe from potentially hazardous dryer fires too.
It can be a lot of work, but doing regular maintenance on your home keeps it and all your appliances and systems in the best shape they can be.
