If you think home maintenance means fixing something only when it’s broken, then you could be in for some costly surprises. Routine maintenance can help identify and address home-related issues early and prevent them from becoming bigger problems later.

Spring and summer are ideal times to perform critical home maintenance projects. The improved weather allows better access to areas of the home and yard that may have been inaccessible during winter, and the additional daylight allows more time for outdoor work than other times of the year.

“Cars get routine maintenance from a mechanic and people get regular checkups from a doctor, but unfortunately our homes often get neglected until it’s too late,” says Rhonda Hills of Kudzu.com, an online resource for homeowners looking for expert home advice and local service providers. “Homes need constant attention, and in most cases regular maintenance can help save thousands of dollars by allowing owners to catch problems early or prevent them altogether.”

* Get your air conditioner serviced – Properly maintained heating and air conditioning systems run more efficiently and have a longer life expectancy. During a maintenance visit, your HVAC technician should check your system’s refrigerant levels, clean the condenser coil, replace dirty filters and calibrate your thermostat among other things. The goal is to ensure your air conditioning system is operating properly and is in tip-top-shape for the warmer weather ahead.

* Inspect the roof – Wind, rain, hail and other weather events can damage the roof and leave it susceptible to leaks. When conducting a visual inspection, try to stay off the roof. Instead, start from the ground and look for missing or damaged shingles, discolored spots or areas of the roof that sag.

* Check toilets for leaks – The average home loses 10,000 gallons of water per year to leaks, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. That’s enough water to fill a swimming pool. To ensure your home is leak free, start by checking your toilet. Just drop food coloring in the toilet’s tank. If after 30 minutes the water in the bowl starts to change colors, then there is a leak. This can usually be corrected by replacing the toilet’s flapper.

* Have your home pressure washed – Pressure washing your home can keep it looking brand new and can also extend the life of your siding or other building materials. Dirt, mold and mildew will gradually accumulate on your home, deck and other surfaces, and you may not even notice it. In some cases, these contaminants can deteriorate building materials and can create slick, unsafe walking surfaces.

* Get your gutters cleaned – Gutters help capture rain that hits your home and direct it as far from the structure as possible. Clogged gutters cannot properly redirect water and can lead to water pooling against your home’s foundation and leaking into your crawlspace or basement.

* Rake and aerate your lawn – Raking a winter’s worth of leaves will allow sunlight and nutrients to reach your sod, and aerating the lawn will prevent soil compaction, improve drainage and promote better root development.

* Have your trees trimmed – Pruning is typically done to remove dead or diseased limbs, eliminate overcrowding or to prevent potential hazards. In addition to creating a healthier tree, pruning can also allow better light penetration which can be a benefit to plants below.

* Look for termites – Termites are wood-destroying pests that can cause thousands of dollars in damage to your home. The most obvious sign of a termite infestation is a termite swarm, which is when winged termites take to the skies to find a mate. These winged termites are easily confused with winged ants, so if you spot a swarm, gather some of the winged specimens and immediately contact a professional pest control company so they can inspect.

Have a quality home inspection performed on your Indiana real estate today and learn about home maintenance and ways to help your home stay in good shape.  A licensed Indiana home inspector from Certainty Home Inspections will inspect your home as if they were buying it for their own family.  Book your inspection online now!

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Contemplating on buying a Log Home, here is a few points from a residential home inspector

On a special note there are a few facts that you already know; Log Homes surely have that unique comfortable majestic style along with beauty no other home can declare.

Not only are log homes picturesque they are very sturdy and strong, green and energy efficient and they have got very good resale value when they have been properly maintained.

Being a qualified home inspector I wish to bring out a certain amount of facts about purchasing and maintaining a log home.

For everybody who is reading this article and own any type of log home take advantage of this important information to maintain your home, but if you’re in the process of buying a log house consider these facts while you are working with a Realtor and prepared to make an offer to buy.

I’ve had the privilege of observing and inspecting log houses that are over one hundred years old and they are in good condition because they were actually taken care of, however I’ve additionally inspected 16 year old log homes with major failure on the wood logs as a result of inferior design, style and routine maintenance.

The following information is about log homes that are no more than twenty-five yrs. old.

There are several different kinds of logs and patterns but the majority of the moisture problems and repairs and maintenance tend to be simply the exact same.

The following is my top ten listing of things to look for when you are purchasing a log home

1.            Hire a local home inspector who has knowledge about log homes

2.            Look to see if there is any timber rot or any type of past water damage on the house logs especially in all of the ends and corners on the house logs. You may have to work with a ladder to evaluate all of these places

3.            Check all the logs for wide cracks in between the logs as well as around the chinking, finding just a few of the logs that have split should be expected in any log home

4.            Look for insect/ pest damage; Look along the underside for any visible termite or any type of boring insect destruction. Investigate along the outside wall structure in addition to all of the gables and overhanging trim for small round holes produced by carpenter bees

5.            Check the decks and porches to be certain they’re fastened and flashed in the correct way; it is extremely common to discover water damage and mold underneath decks

6.            Check the soil clearance to the logs, twelve inches is actually what is recommended; but you should not accept any logs in contact with the soil or landscaping

7.            Log walls will certainly shrink with time so check every inside as well as the exterior entrance doors to be sure every one of them will open and close adequately

8.            Make certain all the windows open and close properly

9.            Look for darkening places on the logs, mold as well as mildew upon the log structure

10.          Check all the exposed rafters as well as the framework specifically where the roofing surface sits over the logs and there should be an 18” or more overhang on every log houses

All log houses are extremely energy efficient; the thermal mass of the logs happens to be the magic formula. The logs really have excellent insulation benefits but the simple fact that getting those house logs up to a suitable constant temperature lets the HVAC unit/ units to preserve the comfort level inside of the log house.

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Certainty does a great job.  They are very prompt and their report is very easy to understand.  On a scale from 1 to 10, Certainty is definitely a 10!  Denise Redman

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