Your Home Maintenance Checklist: What to Do Monthly, Quarterly, Bi-Annually, and Yearly (Part I)

Part I: Interior Checklist

For most Americans, your home is your biggest investment. Just like your car, boat, and heck, your body, you need to invest time and care into its upkeep. Sometimes this will cost, if you need to hire a professional, or buy/replace something. This upkeep goes beyond just changing your air filters (though that’s important, too). There are many other things that need to be done regularly. It all sounds so daunting! However, if you schedule it and keep on top of things, you don’t need to spend every Saturday doing home maintenance. Use our schedule and keep your home safe, functioning, and wonderful for many years to come. We recommend actually adding these as repeating appointments to your calendar.

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8 Easy Fixes for Common Home Maintenance Problems

Maintaining a house can often feel like a very complicated task. Depending on how old and how well-built the house is, you can find yourself constantly chasing after small problems. Fortunately, there are several tasks on that big to-do list that are actually a lot easier than you’d imagine, with simple DIY repairs that anyone can manage.

Loose Drawer Handle

You pull the handle on the drawer and it wobbles, and one day you are going to end up yanking it off for good. Assuming you’ve tried screwing the thing back in, your problem is probably that the wood is stripped. Thankfully, this is simple to solve.

Easy Fix: Use some wood glue and toothpicks to fill the hole, cut off the protruding toothpicks, and then screw the handle back in.

Broken AC

There’s nothing worse than realizing you have a broken air conditioner during a sweltering summer’s day. Several things could be wrong with your system, but it could be something very simple, such as a frozen coil caused by a dirty filter.

Easy Fix: Replace your AC filter and see if that works. If it doesn’t, you will probably have to call an AC repair professional. Use this nationwide search tool by Home Advisor to find companies in your area who can get your system back in working order.

Drywall Holes

Drywall is a delicate thing, and holes and cracks are annoyingly common. In particular, holes from doorknobs slamming into the wall are a classic issue.

Easy Fix: Fixing drywall is easy, but there are different techniques for each type of hole you’ll encounter. For a doorknob hole, a patch kit is the easiest option. This guide by Lowe’s has instructions for every drywall repair situation.

DIY, home maintenance, home projects

Summer Home Maintenance Projects

Summer is THE season for grilling, outdoor activities, icy cold drinks, and…home maintenance. Wait, what? You read that correctly! Take advantage of the long, warm days to do home projects that aren’t viable during the cold, wet months. Besides beautifying your home and adding value and curb appeal, you’ll want to ensure your home’s integrity through the rest of the year. For instance, if you ignore that small leak in your roof or that overflowing gutter, by winter it could become a much bigger—and way more expensive—issue to repair. Summer is also a great time to add a cool and fun new feature to your home (fire pit, anyone?). We’ve got a super list of possible projects—some you can do yourself, while some are best left to professionals.

DIY, home maintenance, home projects, landscaping, summer

Cleaning the Cleaning Appliances

What’s not to love about your cleaning appliances? They don’t need payment, they don’t need to be fed, they don’t complain, and they do their job when it’s convenient for you. The least we can do is give them a bit of love. Besides, keeping these guys clean helps them run better and last longer, and even save energy.

Dishwasher

For a quick degreasing and odor removal, place a cup of white vinegar in a dishwasher-safe container on the upper rack of your empty dishwasher. Run the machine using the hottest water cycle available. If it still smells musty after this, sprinkle a cup of baking soda over the bottom of the dishwasher, then run for a second cycle. If you’d prefer to use a dishwasher cleaner, Good Housekeeping has a list of recommended ones that handle food and grease, as well as hard water minerals.

appliances, cleaning

Making the Summer-to-Fall Transition: Prepare Your Home Before Winter Sets In

The end of summer is all about change. Leaves are starting to fall, the weather’s just beginning to cool (okay, at least it’s less hot). The kids are back in school, and everyone settles into familiar and busy daily routines. Soon, you won’t have as much time for those little household jobs that’ll pay off later – or cost you some money if they’re neglected – so do yourself a favor: put down the TV remote, pull on your sweatpants and t-shirt, and get ‘em done now.

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