Your home is your most important investment, and there’s no better time than now to take care of it. Such was the sentiment expressed during LakewoodAlive’s recent “Knowing Your Home: Home Maintenance” workshop attended by 50 community members.
Hosted on November 7 at Clock Electric, this free workshop featured an insightful presentation by friend of LakewoodAlive John Turner. John covered a variety of topics designed to help make homeowners’ lives easier by making home maintenance tasks more streamlined.
Now in its sixth year, LakewoodAlive’s Knowing Your Home workshop series draws hundreds of attendees annually to learn home maintenance best practices. Our workshop series is generously supported by: Citizens Bank, City of Lakewood, Cleveland Lumber Company and First Federal Lakewood.
If you happened to miss this particular workshop, we’ve got you covered. Here are five key takeaways from “Knowing Your Home: Home Maintenance.”
1. Make home maintenance a priority
Time is a valuable commodity and there are never enough hours in the day. But no matter how many obligations you have, it’s important to find time to perform basic home maintenance. Taking care of your home affords you many benefits, including improving your home’s comfort and livability, maximizing your home’s durability and ensuring your home provides a healthy and safe environment for you and your family.
2. Practice preventative maintenance
It’s important to recognize that performing preventative maintenance is much easier and less expensive than enduring emergency or reactionary repairs. Most mechanical systems within your home require annual maintenance. By paying attention to these systems, you will be able to tell if they are not working as they normally do. You will never know when an emergency repair is going to pop up but it’s less likely to happen if you pay attention and take care of your systems.
3. Focus on ensuring your home provides a healthy and safe place to live
While there are many home maintenance efforts you can pursue, the most important revolve around ensuring your home provides a healthy and safe living environment. Ensure your home has working smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors, checking them at least once every six months. Have your heating and cooling systems checked once each year. Make sure there is no water infiltration around your home’s perimeter by surveying the foundation and monitoring for signs of water damage. These basic measures will go a long way towards protecting your home and its occupants.
4. Maintain a solid structure
Having strong bones is paramount to ensuring your home is well-maintained. Check your home’s foundation to see if there is any missing mortar and make sure your entry steps and porch are sturdy. Check your roof for leaks and examine your shingles to make sure that none are missing or covered with algae. Your home’s long-term durability ultimately depends on your success with maintaining a solid structure.
5. Get organized by using an app
Need help with organizing your home maintenance goals? There’s an app for that! Free online apps like the one offered by BrightNest can help you organize your home maintenance to-do list and stay on top of your home’s most pressing needs. This user-friendly product is worthwhile to try if you wish to simplify your life as a homeowner and take better care of your home.