Five Essential Maintenance Tasks to Keep Your Home in Top Condition
Travis Gapp
May 8, 2023
As a homeowner, there are few things more important than keeping your home in top condition. Your home is a reflection of who you are, and it deserves the care and attention that you would give to any other important aspect of your life. To help you achieve this, here are five essential maintenance tasks that every homeowner in the Pacific Northwest should prioritize. You will note they tend to have some overlap and common themes.
1. Check for Pests and Moisture
One of the most important things that you can do to maintain your home is to check for pests and moisture. This means crawling under your house and into your attic to look for signs of infestation or water damage. Pests such as rodents and insects can cause significant damage to your home's structure, and moisture can lead to mold growth and other serious problems. In addition, proper ventilation is crucial to maintaining the integrity of your home's structure. The damp wet conditions of western Oregon can trap moisture for long periods of time and promote rot. Rot invites ants and other types of “decomposer” bugs. Bugs bring rodents. Evidence of a high bug population underneath a relatively new (20 years or less) house can be seen by way of spider webs. If the attic or crawl space is filled with spider webs, especially away from the vents, look for moisture intrusion. Call a contractor or pest control accordingly. Most contractors will want the pest control part taken care of before the rot repair begins.
2. Keep Up Exterior Caulk, Sealants and Paint
Another essential maintenance task is to keep up with exterior caulk and paint. The Pacific Northwest is known for its rainy weather, which can be hard on your home's exterior. Keeping your home properly sealed with caulk and painted with high-quality exterior paint can help protect it from the elements and keep it looking its best. Selecting a high-quality paint like Benjamin Moore will cost more up front but save you money in both maintenance and repair costs in the long run. Not to mention the home will look nicer in between coats of paint. Proper caulking is even more essential than fresh paint. Keeping water from getting trapped in the cracks will allow materials to live their best life. Popular exterior grade siliconized acrylic caulks never lives up to the “guarantee” on the tube. In Western Oregon the west and south facing exposures of a building, caulk should be renewed every seven years or less. If you want to keep those pesky Box Elder bugs (Boisea trivittata) out of your home, this is where the battle begins. At the outer most layer.
Most roofs have fasteners exposed to the open elements due to installer oversight or lack of experience. Even when they have been sealed with roofing tar or silicone caulk, the weather cycles quickly render them impotent. Walk your roof annually with a caulk gun and sealant and check the ends of the ridges and hips and the flashing and vents and pipe jacks for exposed staples and nail heads. Sometimes flashing even needs refastened due to fasteners being too short or lifting occurring through the hot and cold weather cycles.
3. Keep Gutters and Downspouts Clear
Gutters and downspouts are another important aspect of maintaining your home. They help to channel water away from your home's foundation, preventing water damage and other problems. However, if your gutters and downspouts become clogged with debris, they can't do their job effectively. Make sure to keep them clear and clean to avoid any potential issues. Downspouts tend to clog up in the bends, especially if it is one of those DIY size plastic gutters. I would not advise spending money on gutter covers. I have never seen a system work as claimed. Save your money and pay someone to clean your gutters if you can’t do it yourself. Make sure that a hammer is used to tap the nails that hold the gutter up back tight into their holes (new gutters don’t use these nails) when cleaning out the gutter. If a gutter pulls away from the fascia board or gets clear full of water, runoff from the roof can potentially cause a lot of damage, especially if the structure has a closed soffit. The closed soffit can sometimes guide leaking water back towards the exterior wall of the house and run down inside. Flashing pieces on the roof should be kept clear of debris and moss cannot be allowed to grow underneath them.
4. Keep Plants and Objects Away from House
Keeping plants and other objects away from your home is an often-overlooked aspect of home maintenance. Plants that are too close to your home can cause damage to your siding or roof and can even provide a way for pests to enter your home. Similarly, storing objects such as firewood or yard waste too close to your home can create a fire hazard. Make sure to keep everything at a safe distance from your home to avoid any potential issues. Shade from trees and shrubs can hold moisture and reduce evaporation around the structure, increasing the rate of decay. Everything decays, you can only help decide how fast that will happen. Rodents especially love plants and items near homes as a means of cover, this eventually leads to them finding a way inside the structure. This is especially true in the late summer and autumn months as they prepare for the onset of winter.
Trees hanging over the house can damage the roof and encourage moss growth. Paying to have a tree trimmed or removed is always cheaper than letting it fall on your house. Insurance can sometimes cover the costs of tree removal if there is an imminent threat that has been assessed by an arborist or tree removal professional.
5. Fix Failing Systems and Maintain Working Systems in the Home
Finally, it's essential to fix any failing systems in your home and maintain your working mechanical systems. This includes things like your HVAC system, plumbing, and electrical systems. Regular maintenance and repairs can help you avoid costly repairs in the long run and ensure that your home stays safe and comfortable. The modern conveniences like heat, warm water, and lights are hard to live without and often get addressed before the less obvious systems in the home. But when the other systems fail, they can be just as costly if not more.
Above all else, make sure that your attic areas are properly vented for both the hot and wet seasons. In a custom home with unconventional rooflines, it is easy to overlook areas of dead space between the ceiling and roof where heat or moisture may accrue. Adding a gable-end fan to a hot attic space may seem like a good idea, but properly vented roofs don’t use these fans and you will just be throwing money away (monthly) trying to remove heat from the space the incorrect way. Ask a roofing professional about proper modifications that may need to be made to your attic ventilation system to ensure that your sheathing doesn’t buckle, and your roofing doesn’t curl up. A brand-new roof can be ruined in one summer from an improperly vented attic, and the warranty is voided.
The external drainage system is another important system to consider. If a builder used thin-wall PVC underdrain, it could crack easily when not buried deep enough or exposed to the sun for many years and cause hard to find leaks down near the foundation or in your yard. If a builder was too cheap to buy a thicker schedule pipe, they are usually too cheap to bury the pipe at the right depth too.
In conclusion, maintaining your home is an essential part of being a homeowner. By prioritizing these essential maintenance tasks, you can help keep your home in top condition for years to come. Don't neglect your home's maintenance needs - take care of it, and it will take care of you. Because if you don’t, like a woman scorned, it will make you pay.
