You’ve noticed a small puddle of water piling up near your toilet. You mop it up and go about your day. The next morning the water is back again. Now it’s time to call someone out to take a look at your pipes.
You should add looking around for leaks to a monthly home maintenance checklist. If something like this is left unattended, it could cause hundreds of dollars in water damage later. Leaks aren’t the only thing you should be on the lookout for.
Check out this guide to see the maintenance steps that you should be taking each and every month to keep your house clean and safe.
General Home Maintenance
There are two types of monthly home maintenance we’re going to go over. General and seasonal. First, let’s talk about the general home touch-ups you should keep up with.
Clean the Kitchen Vent Hood Filter
Your kitchen vent hood filter soaks up grease and dirt like a sponge. Check and clean it because once it gets clogged, it doesn’t work that well.
The good news is that nine times out of ten, these filters are made out of metal. You can remove it and throw it in the dishwasher.
Take a Look at Your HVAC Filters
There are some HVAC filters that are reusable. All you have to do is clean them up and place them back into the system. There are some that have to get tossed out and replaced.
Whichever you prefer, this is a step that you need to add to your monthly chore list. It will stop dust and other allergens from wafting through your home.
Check for Leaks
Even the smallest leak around your cabinets and toilets should be a red flag to you. If left unchecked it can cost you hundreds of dollars in water damage on your floor and even ceilings if water from the upstairs toilet leaks through.
You should perform this check even if you don’t see any water. Listen out for leaky pipes and look for brown stains. A hidden leak can drive your water bill up by a huge amount.
Look at Your Fire Extinguishers
You’re boiling a pot of water on the stove when the pot catches fire. For small instances such as this, you should have a working fire extinguisher handy.
This will stop a minor mishap from destroying your entire kitchen and maybe even more if it’s allowed to escalate.
Clean the Kitchen Disposal
Your fireclay sink won’t seem that elegant when it smells like old food. If there is a certain odor wafting around in your kitchen, chances are it’s the garbage disposal. It’s not as impossible to fix this problem as it may seem.
Drop half a cup of baking soda and half a cup of vinegar down the disposal and turn it on while running hot water through it.
Test Your Smoke Detector
Like checking your fire extinguisher, not testing your smoke detector is a safety issue. The batteries have to get replaced every six months or so but it also needs to be tested each month as an added precaution.
You should make sure to check your carbon monoxide detector at the same time you test your smoke detector.
Walk Around Outside
The last step is taking a walk around your home. Look for cracks in the foundation, leaks, crowded gutters, messed up vents, and any other potential threats.
Seasonal Maintenance Checklist
Part of your monthly checklist will change depending on what season you’re going into. Here are a few tasks that you should perform when the weather outside begins to change.
Fall
The last thing you want is for your HVAC system to stop working when the cold weather hits. That’s why you should get ahead of the game and have someone come take a look at yours during the fall.
Switch up the direction of your ceiling fan so the hot air is blowing downward. Check your dryer vent and clean that out if it needs it.
Those colorful, falling leaves are gorgeous but they can cause problems. Rake up the ones that fall into your yard and shovel them out of your gutters as well.
Winter
When the weather drops down into the negatives, there’s a large possibility that your pipes will freeze over. To prevent this, you’ll have to keep your sink dripping overnight.
If you live in an area that sees several inches of snow every winter, make sure you’re equipped with the tools to shovel it away. You’ll need something to break up ice dams on your roof as well.
Spring
With the hot weather coming back, it’s time to change your ceiling fan direction again so it’s pulling cold air into the room. With all the snow thawing, now is the perfect opportunity to check your home for leaks.
If you want to make any big landscape changes, now is the time to do that. Power wash the outside of your house and if you’re planning on slapping on a new coat of paint, go ahead and do it.
Summer
Summer is a time of mosquitos and other pests. You don’t want them coming into your home so make patching holes in your screen door part of your summer home maintenance checklist.
If you haven’t had your HVAC system checked over, do that during the early summer before the weather gets too hot. Your lawn is going to need some serious TLC during this period of dry heat. Keep it cut and watered.
A Monthly Home Maintenance Checklist to Live By
The last thing you want is to experience heavy amounts of water damage from a leak or for your HVAC system to suddenly stop working. You can prevent these things from happening by creating a monthly home maintenance checklist.
Keeping up with basic home cleaning and repairs throughout the year will stop you from having to make expensive repairs later on.
This isn’t the only way you can keep your house standing strong. Check out our blog daily for even more homeowner’s tips and lifestyle content.