Tips on Having Less Home Maintenance to Worry About

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Every home will take some maintenance work. However, if you're interested in keeping your home as simple as possible, it will take planning and smart material choices. Additionally, if you choose to change up your footprint, you may need to reconsider your HVAC capacity.

Exterior Choices

If you live in an area that gets a lot of sun, make sure you invest in light-colored, UV tolerant choices on the exterior of your home. Vinyl windows, insulated vinyl siding, and metal wraps on windows will cut down on how much you have to do to your house each year. Quality guttering and a screen to cut down on debris will reduce the number of times you need to clean out your gutters.

If you have older wooden windows that are in good shape, you might consider getting a UV coating applied. If you have metal windows that are still in good shape, getting the frames taken apart and new insulation installed may be a wise choice. Finally, check your double pane windows for fogging and consider getting those inserts replaced so you can enjoy a clearer view of the world.

Consider Groundcover

Not every climate can easily support a traditional lawn, and oftentimes cutting the grass can make a mess of your pool and patio. To keep things simple, you may have better luck putting artificial grass around the pool, along patios and under pergolas.

In front of your home, if you are considering xeriscaping, make sure you also include plants that can tolerate the climate of your region. While xeriscaping can make your yard much easier to care for, having nothing but rocks and sand in front of your home can greatly increase the ambient temperature of your yard.

Pay Attention to Shade

Carefully review how the sun hits your house. Sunlight is hard on paint, siding, shingles, and even concrete over time. In addition to putting in sunlight tolerant products on the exterior of your home, putting in shade trees can protect your home from the greatest sunlight exposure.

Consider installing canopies over patios and pool surrounds, particularly concrete pads that warm up with the sun. A hot concrete pad can make your pool unusable when you need it most. Even a canvas awning can reduce heat build up, and if the sun destroys a canvas awning, the replacement cost of canvas is much lower than patio furniture or suffering from burned feet.

Update Wisely

If you need to make your home bigger, make sure you carefully consider updating your HVAC system. Adding a room without updating your heat and AC options can lead to a room that will be consistently uncomfortable no matter how many fans you put to use or what the temperature is in the rest of the house.

When everything is torn up and open is the ideal time to run new ductwork. Once you have new ductwork installed, you will probably need to upgrade your HVAC system. The key to expanding your home when your budget is low is to focus on the physicals. Running water lines, waste lines, ductwork and air returns is ultimately the best investment. If you need to upgrade cabinets, flooring, and other more cosmetic features at a later date, getting the physicals done first will save you a lot of disruption later.

Watch Drainage

If you plan to make any big changes to the footprint of your home or your landscaping, make sure you get the drainage checked. For example, you may want to put it in a pool. However, you'll need to make sure that you get enough soil excavated that you don't end up directing rain against your house if you change the grade of your yard.

Keeping your foundation secure will also include regular exterior checks. Like a lot of home maintenance, taking care of small challenges on your foundation can save you big money and even bigger disruption later. If you are not sure about your current drainage situation, get it checked before you make big changes.

Conclusion

Damage prevention is inherently cheaper and easier than repair. If you make big changes, make sure you monitor grading and drainage. Be ready to upgrade your HVAC if you change the footprint of your home.