Home Maintenance
Home maintenance is incredibly important for your home.
As a homeowner, it is your responsibility to maintain the safety and efficiency of your home. Home maintenance is a constant task that requires monthly, quarterly, and yearly attention. Luckily, VSCLT is here to help. Read through this lesson to learn about common home maintenance items and find resources to help you.
Please follow this link to view Virginia Housing’s helpful video on home maintenance.
Siga este enlace para ver el vídeo de Virginia Housing sobre el mantenimiento del hogar.
Key Takeaways from the Home Maintenance Guide:
Budget money to save for home maintenance and emergency repairs.
You don’t always know when or what the next maintenance item will be. But you can prepare for it.
A best practice is to save 1% of the purchase price of your home for maintenance each year. If you purchased your home for $250,000, try to save $2,500/year ($208/month) for home maintenance.
If you cannot save that much, that’s okay! Saving any money for home maintenance and emergency repairs is better than not saving at all.
If you hire a carpenter, plumber, or other contractor, get multiple estimates in writing before authorizing any work to be done on your home.
Getting multiple estimates ensures that you are getting a competitive, reasonable price for a project. Getting estimates in writing helps you avoid any surprise costs down the road.
Home services websites with verified revies can help you find highly-rated contractors in your area.
Follow a checklist of home maintenance items throughout the year.
It can be difficult to remember all of the maintenance items to monitor on the inside and the outside of your home.
That is why a checklist can be so helpful to keep you on track.
Home Maintenance Checklists:
This checklist from Virginia Housing breaks maintenance items down by how often you should check them. You can download the checklist here.
VSCLT also has a helpful list of home maintenance and repair items to be aware of. You can download this list here.
Home maintenance can feel overwhelming, but with attention, care, and effective planning it can become just another part of your routine. Performing regular maintenance keeps your home safe and prevents large problems that require expensive repairs from developing. For example, regularly cleaning your gutters prevents leaf and debris build-up and reduces the risk of needing to repair or replace your gutters in the future. By maintaining your home, you are practicing the consistency and attentiveness necessary to succeed as a homeowner, and you are sustaining the value of your home into the future.
To see helpful videos for specific home maintenance items, please visit Community Home Trust’s DIY Videos page.